Fallen Petals of the Rose
by Divine-Red-Crayon
Summary: It started out as a normal day, more boring than usual, but normal none the less, when a bounty came in that had Faye a little on edge. (Now with chapter 11!)[COMPLETE]
1. The Bounty

Hey all, this is my first story, I hope you enjoy it.  
  
Here is my first Disclaimer: I don't own anything Cowboy Bebop... well, character and story wise... I mean I don't own the plot... Hmmm. This is obviously a first disclaimer... Can't you just tell from the lack of knowing what to say?  
  
Title: Fallen Petal of the Rose  
  
Chapter1: The Bounty  
  
She looked at him eating... something. 'The slob,' she thought as she returned her attention to the book she was reading, some trashy love novel.  
  
A sigh escaped her lips as she set the book aside and stretched her arms. It was far too boring. The book, of which she finished a week ago, just wasn't as good the second time around. Nobody had anything new to say, Ed just played video games, Spike well, he was never one for conversations, well, with Faye at least, and Jet? He was too caught up with ship-maintenance, if she said anything to him; he would have her doing a chore, which was NOT on her agenda. There was always Ein, but he never had anything interesting to say, that and she wouldn't be caught dead talking to the dog by Ed, well not again anyways.  
  
Board out of her mind; she decided that since Spike was the only one in the proximity, he would have to do. He was watching TV, and in this section of space, they only got around 5 channels, only one of which came in well.   
  
"SO," she bellowed to break the silence, and make Spike jump.   
  
"What are you watching?" She asked squinting at the fuzzy TV screen.  
  
Spike, whom was silently recovering from his near-heart-attack experience, sighed and said," I think it is either some sort of soap opera or possibly something to do with news... Not sure exactly."  
  
"Fascinating," she exasperated as she plopped down in a seat with a better view of the unknown television program.  
  
"Well, you asked," he sighed, obviously board as well.   
  
"Yeah, but only because I didn't take you for the type who wasted away in front of a fuzzy TV screen," she also rebutted, in a monotone, board voice.  
  
"Honestly, I didn't take myself for the type either," he leaned back on the arm of the couch. "So, how is that book you have been reading?"  
  
"Boring. As. Hell."  
  
"Gee, you would think a book with a name like "Hell Hath No Furry Like Lover's Souls" would have a little more zest than that."  
  
She sighed once again, "It does, but the second time around it reads kind of dry, that and the plot sucks, not that anybody pays attention to the plot when they get these books."  
  
"I see," he said as he shoved the bag of what he was eating in her direction, "What some?"  
  
"Well this is a first, I don't know that there was ever a time you offered me food before," Faye replied sarcastically, all the while sticking her hand in the bag and pulling out what to her relief was just chips.  
  
"You're welcome," he replied gruffly, pulling the bag away.  
  
Faye munched happily on the sour-cream-and-onion chips. Just then, Ed danced into the room. 'Finally,' Faye thought, 'Something remotely interesting.'   
  
Apparently, it was to be short lived as Ed was only following Ein into the kitchen. Letting out a frustrated... sigh, Faye got up.  
  
"Where are you going?" Spike asked, with a clear lack of anything better to do.  
  
"Anywhere, I am so board I'm going out of my mind! When will something interesting happen here?!" she said more to the universe in general then to Spike.  
  
And like the universe was answering her prayers, Jet walked in.  
  
"Gotta bounty," he informed them.  
  
"It's about time," Spike said, "I was beginning to think that there weren't anymore criminals left." He lightly chuckled at his own little joke.  
  
"So, who we after?" Faye asked.  
  
"A guy named Drake Sekart; he's wanted for countless rapings, batteries, and robberies, usually robbing from his rape victims." Jet informed them. No one noticed Faye's face drop.  
  
"Ok, so how much is he worth?" Spike asked.  
  
"If brought in alive he is worth 3,000,000 wulongs," Jet replied.  
  
"Great, we could use the money, so, where do we find this guy?" Spike asked.  
  
"Here is a map that shows where authorities think he may be hiding out," Jet said, pulling up a map on the computer.  
  
By now, Faye had moved back to the couch, trying to regain her cool. 'No big deal, right?' she thought, 'What could possibly happen?'  
  
"You ok, Faye?" Jet asked as her peered at her over the computer screen.  
  
"Oh yeah, I'm fine," she said as calmly as possible, "So, when do we leave?"  
  
"Tomorrow, that is when we will be in his vicinity," Jet answered.  
  
"Ok, so, anything we should know?" Spike asked.  
  
"Well the man is supposedly dangerous, but I'm sure you could handle him." Jet assured. "Oh yeah, he has a small gang with him at almost all times, protection, I guess."  
  
"Not a problem," Spike said, sitting down on the couch crossing his arms behind his head.  
  
"Yeah," Faye concurred half heartedly.  
  
That night, Faye didn't exactly sleep well, her thoughts kept drifting to tomorrow, or when ever they finally got to Drake Sekart. Part of her was scarred, another part wanted to go kick his ass. Thought after contradicting thought filled her mind, and then she realized that she wouldn't exactly be there alone, Spike would be there after all, and Jet wouldn't be too far away either, though she hardly expected them to drop everything to save her, it wasn't their responsibility; she hoped that the need wouldn't even arise. Slowly, however, sleep eventually found her.   
  
"Faye, Faye!" Ed's voice rang in Faye's poor unsuspecting ear. "Faye, Faye, time to wakey!"  
  
"Ed!" she hollered as she pushed the child away from her ear, "What's the big idea?"  
  
"Jet person told Ed to wakey Faye, Faye," she chimed.  
  
Faye looked to her clock; it was starting to get late. "Alright, well I'm up now, so you can go."  
  
"Okey-Dokey," she said as she skipped away.  
  
Faye put her cold hand to her warm forehead, she wasn't sick, but she didn't feel great either. 'Coffee,' her mind focused on its soul goal for the morning, Drake could wait 'till later. She brushed her hair and changed her clothes, even though she had lived her for a while, she still felt uncomfortable wandering around unkept, sure a towel was fine, but that didn't make her look like a slob.   
  
"Morning," Spike said as she wandered into the kitchen, not moving his eyes from the magazine he was reading.  
  
"Ugh," Faye replied, not yet completely awake. 'Finally,' she thought as she poured the steaming hot, brown liquid into a coffee mug, 'Salvation.'  
  
She slunked down into a seat at the kitchen table and slowly sipped her coffee, she could almost feel the caffeine flow to every part of her. She sighed, this time a more content sigh; things would always be ok so long as she could have coffee.  
  
Before she knew it, she was on her third cup and almost back to her old self.   
  
"Ok, so when are we going?" she asked, now almost raring to go. Almost.  
  
"Soon, we have Ed trying to get a more precise location right now," Spike replied, still staring contently at his magazine.  
  
"Ok," she said, realizing she could just sit and relax for a few more minutes.   
  
Jet walked in, "Oh so I see you're finally awake."  
  
"Yeah, and just so you know, you are going to pay for that," Faye said sternly.  
  
"What? I didn't do anything," Jet played dumb.  
  
"You know as well as I do what I mean," she took another sip of her coffee, "Ed ratted you out."  
  
"How do you know she wasn't covering for Spike?" he asked, thinking he was making a good point.  
  
"Because, the one thing I like about Ed is that she is too simple to lie, even for someone else," she took another sip, "So, she didn't cover for anybody."  
  
"Eh, fine," he gave up.  
  
"Jet Person! Spike Spike! Faye Faye! I got it!" Ed ran into the room looking very happy.   
  
Ed had found a more precise location of Drake Sekart. It was time to go. Faye inwardly groaned. Of course they wouldn't be wearing the normal stuff, this was going to be under cover, who knew who would recognize them if they didn't. So, Faye adorned long pants and a tight fitting t-shirt, Spike just dressed down a bit, the suit, not matter how casual, was a little conspicuous.   
  
So, finally, they were off, Ed had found a more precise location, but they still had some looking to do. It was Spike who had the wonderful idea to split up.   
  
'Perfect,' she thought grimly.  
  
They pin pointed his location in the Stardust Space Station. The biggest station in the area. They got to their destination; Faye did her best to hide her anxiousness. Spike didn't notice, he just told her to contact him as soon as she found him, if she does, and he would do the same if he found Drake. They had each memorized his picture and were ready to go.   
  
Faye made her way into the stations crowds; it had a large mall in it, a hotel, not to mention a casino and huge ship port. She hoped that they would find him soon and just get this all over with. 'Oh well,' she sighed, 'Time to put on the act.'  
  
She wandered into an ice cream shop, she could work with ice cream, for some reason, guys just couldn't resist a woman eating ice cream alone. So, she laved on the 'innocent' act, and soon enough, a fly was lured into her trap.   
  
"Hey baby," a husky voice whispered into her ear, "And what's a pretty woman like you doing all alone?"  
  
She smirked, hoping this guy could give her the info she needed, "Waiting for a guy like you to come and get me." she said seductively.  
  
'Perfect,' she thought as she let him lead her into a less crowded part of the ice cream shop, the she pulled out her gun.  
  
"Well, well, sweet hearts got a secret," he exclaimed.  
  
"Yeah, and you better tell me what I want to know or say good bye to your secret," she smirked.  
  
The man's face struggled to look clam, "Fine, girly, what do you want?"  
  
"Tell me where I can find Drake Sekart," she demanded.  
  
"What's a girly like you want with that-" he was cut off by the sudden close proximity of the gun.   
  
"Just fucking tell me where he is," she growled.  
  
"F-fine, you'll be able to find him in the casino," he gasped, hoping to get away from the insane chick whom obviously had a death wish.  
  
"Thanks," she said with a smile as she let him go, replaced her gun in its hiding place and walked off, leaving the man to pay for her ice cream.  
  
The casino.   
  
"Spike, I got word on his location." Faye informed Spike through the intercom they shared.   
  
"How trust worthy do you think the guy is?" Spike asked.  
  
"I don't have a clue, do you have any other leads?" she asked.  
  
"Fine, but check it out first, if you see him, then contact me." he said as he cut off the link.  
  
'Fine,' she thought as she made her way to the casino.  
  
First, she made a pit stop into the bathroom to 'enhance' her appearance; this was a fancy casino after all, not the place for jeans. Dressed appropriately, she made her appearance in the casino and began her search. She made sure to get herself near shady conversations to try and find out if where the fugitive was.   
  
Finally, she struck gold, she should have known he would have been a high roller, how else would his presence her be acceptable, she made her way over to the crowded table, and sure enough, there he was.  
  
She watched for a couple minutes, blended with the crowd surrounding him, just to make sure she didn't have the wrong guy, when she was 100% sure, she made her way off into the utility hall way in the back of the casino, near the door that went out to the ship port.  
  
"Spike, I saw him, he's in the casino," she whispered.   
  
"Ok, where are you?" Spike asked.  
  
"I'm near by the door out to the ship port," she told him.   
  
"Ok, don't move, I'll be there in a few minutes," he closed the link.   
  
She prayed he hurried.  
  
"Hello, Faye, long time no see," Faye turned around only to find herself staring into the eyes of the man who made her life a living hell not too long ago.  
  
"Drake," she whimpered.   
  
Yes, I know a cliff hanger on the first chapter... Well, how else was I going to ensure you checking out the next chapter? Huh?  
  
Anyways... I think that you should click this neat button...   
  
It's right down here...  
  
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\_/ You know, the button that says "Review"... cuz you know, I would like to hear from you. 


	2. Meeting in the Back

I want to apologize, I made mistakes in the last chapter (you know, the typos)...   
  
Here we are, at the much anticipated chapter two... Let's see what happens shall we?  
  
But first a word from our (or rather, my) disclaimer: Don't own the Cowboy Bebop show. Nope, I own none of the plot or anything.  
  
Gee, that was a better attempt than last time, no?  
  
***  
  
(Memories)  
  
***  
  
Title: Fallen Petal of the Rose  
  
Chapter 2: Meeting in the Back  
  
~~~Recap~~~  
  
(Last time...)  
  
"Ok, don't move, I'll be there in a few minutes," he closed the link.   
  
She prayed he hurried.  
  
"Hello, Faye, long time no see," Faye turned around only to find herself staring into the eyes of the man who made her life a living hell not too long ago.  
  
"Drake," she whimpered.   
  
~~~Now~~~  
  
"I didn't believe it, Faye, when I first saw you," Drake explained as he slowly approached. "But when I got a report from one of my men that they were held up for information by a feisty young woman, well, who else could it be?"  
  
"S-stay back!" Faye futilely ordered to the advancing man. "I will shoot you if you come any closer!"   
  
She held up her gun.  
  
"Faye, my dear little Faye, you couldn't shoot me then, what makes you think you will be able to now?" he grinned.  
  
"I said stay back!" she yelled as she shakily cocked the gun.  
  
He laughed. "Come now, Faye, let's be honest, you and I both know that you won't be able to shoot me!"  
  
Faye got angry, nobody should be able to predict her, she was not that simple, she shot the gun at the wall next to him, "God Damn it! I said stay the hell back!"  
  
"My, my, my, developed some courage, have we Faye?" he smiled, "Well, it's too late now. Boys?"  
  
Out of now where, Faye realized that she was surrounded. 'Shit.'  
  
Before she knew it, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her and a gun was put to her head. "Now, you'll come quietly, wont you Faye, no need to cause a seen, because, as you know, I can shoot you. Even if you can't shoot me."  
  
"God damn you," she whispered under her breath.  
  
"What was that dear? I couldn't quite hear you." Drake growled.  
  
"I said, GOD DAMN YOU!" she screamed. Now she had one man restraining each arm as she struggled to lung at him.   
  
Drake walked up to Faye and slapped her hard in the face," You would do well to learn to respect me, sweetheart, you know what happens when people cross me."   
  
"Spike," Faye called out lightly at the site of his face.  
  
"What the hell?" He yelled, "Let her go!"  
  
"Oh, and whose this Faye?" Drake laughed, "A little friend of yours? Found a new man to leach off of already? And how soon did you meet him after me, Faye? A week? A month?" He kicked her, "Fucking slut."  
  
"I said let her go!" Spike yelled again.  
  
"And what are you going to do if I don't?" Drake asked.  
  
"Keep 'err held back like that and we'll see," Spike smirked as he cocked his gun, which was a considerable bit bigger than the one Faye carried.  
  
"Well, this has been fun," Drake smiled, "But you see, I really must be going, and it seems that your little whore will be joining me."  
  
"We'll see about that," Spike said as he pointed his gun at Drake.  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned, "For if you will take a look at Faye you will see that she isn't exactly in the most comfortable of positions," he motioned to the gun being held to her head.  
  
'God, Faye, what have you gotten yourself into?' Spike thought to himself. "Why the hell do you want her anyway?"  
  
"Well, she went through the trouble of finding me, seeing her was the least I could do," he explained. "But really, it's all quite deeper than that, you see, me and little Faye here are old friends."  
  
"Oh yeah, I can see the friendly vibes," Spike replied sarcastically.   
  
Throughout the ordeal Faye didn't know what to do with herself, she struggled but when the gun was reintroduced to her head she froze, knowing that there was no way she was getting out of this situation, now anyways.   
  
"Spike, get out of here, I'll be fine," Faye assured him.  
  
"I can't just leave you here," Spike yelled back.  
  
"Well at the moment, you don't have much of a choice," she matter-o-factly told him.  
  
"I can't just stand back and let you get killed," he told her.  
  
"Who said anything about getting killed?" she asked, "I will be ok."  
  
"Truly, this is touching, that "Spike" character really seems to care for his whore," Drake announced, "Isn't it touching, boys? Oh Faye, were ever did you find such a caring soul?"  
  
"Shut the hell up!" Spike demanded.  
  
"Well, "Spike" you have may have one of two choices, 1, you can walk away and leave us be, or 2, you can join Faye an inch from death," Drake informed him.  
  
It was then Spike realized he was surrounded. 'Fuck.'  
  
"Spike, just get the hell out of here!" Faye yelled. "You won't be much good to anyone if you get locked up."  
  
"God, Faye," he said under his breath, "Fine, I'm leaving."   
  
"Good boy," Drake smiled. "I knew you'd make the right choice."  
  
'God, Faye, what did you get yourself into?' Spike thought as he began to plot a way to get her out of there.  
  
Spike made his way into the ship port so he could contact Jet and fill him in on the situation.  
  
"Jet, we have a bit of a situation here." Spike said into his intercom.  
  
"Yeah, what is it?" Jet asked.  
  
"Drake has Faye."  
  
"What? What do you mean 'He has Faye'?" he asked.  
  
"I mean Faye told me she tracked him down, and when I got there he was holding her at gun point," he explained.  
  
"So what happened? I know that something like that doesn't usually hinder the mission too much," Jet said.  
  
"Yeah well, I made the mistake of letting myself get surrounded." He explained.  
  
"I see, so what should we do?" Jet asked.  
  
Spike thought a second. "We have a bounty to catch," Spike answered simply. "I want you to find out all you can on the guy, we're going to catch him. As for me? I'm going to just keep an eye on them for a while."  
  
"Got cha," Jet replied.  
  
"Well, well Faye, it looks like it's just you and me again," Drake smiled sinisterly.  
  
"Oh yeah, you, all your thugs and me, all together again," Faye spat, "Sorry if I don't seem more enthused."  
  
"Honestly, Faye, the man has no back bone, he didn't even try to stand up to me," Drake reasoned.  
  
"Phah," Faye laughed, "He has more back bone in his pinky than you do in your entire body, and you don't see him walking around with an entourage of guys willing to die for him, do you?"  
  
"Well, that's the last we will be seeing of him none the less," Drake said, brushing Faye's comment away, "Besides; you don't think he actually cares about you? Do you?"  
  
"Of course not," Faye spat, "Why should he? He's never claimed to."  
  
"Then why was he so keen on getting you back?" he asked.  
  
"Wait a minute," Faye demanded, "You don't think he cares about me, yet when I agree with you, you contradict my statement and ultimately contradict yourself. And anyways, if I told you it would ruin the surprise."  
  
"My, you've developed a bit of a mouth, haven't you?" Drake sneered. "But don't you worry, we'll fix that soon."   
  
"Ok, boys," he announced, "Take Miss Valentine up to my room, and don't worry, I'll be there to check on you soon."  
  
"Oh and Faye, remember, if you cause a scene in front of the nice people, you will get shot," he warned.  
  
Faye did what she could to regain her composure, they let her go, but she knew, any attempt to run for it and it would be good bye Miss Valentine. So, she walked through the casino, unaware that Spike was keeping an eye on her from the shadows. She held her head up high as they all headed for the elevator, she probably looked like some prestigious rich lady surrounded by her 'protection'.   
  
Once in the elevator, the act dropped, and her arms were ceased.  
  
"Good job, Miss Faye," one nameless man said, "You keep this up and you may survive a week."  
  
"You must be new," she spat, "I have survived longer than a week with Mr. Sekart before, and you would be surprised at how good I am at getting by."  
  
"Well, 'sweetie', I can't imagine the boss being too lenient on you this time, he doesn't have as much patients as he used to," a man who seemed vaguely familiar supplied.  
  
"Thanks for the warning," she smiled fakely.  
  
Finally, the entered the hotel suite, it was a lovely spacious room, he probably got it compt for being such a high roller, not that he ever ran short on cash, all he had to do was con someone, it was one of his many 'gifts'. Faye grunted, as they shoved her into the bed room and did what sounded like locking the door. It was then she realized she still had her com link. She stared at it, it wasn't a hard decision to make, she could use it, tell them where she was, they would find some way to get her out of here. But then another thought came to her mind as she stared at it; she was becoming far too dependant on them, there would be a time when she wouldn't be with them anymore and she couldn't just depend on them forever. She decided then and there, she was going this alone.  
  
She waited in the room for a while, wondering around it, nothing really to do. She sat and thought for a while, fear started to fill her.   
  
***  
  
"Sit down, bitch," the raging mad, drunken voice of Dane rang out. "I'm not fucking done with you yet!"  
  
"God, Dane," Faye screamed, "Get a hold of yourself!"  
  
The drunken Dane smacked Faye across the face to silence her, then he kicked her chair for affect.  
  
"Fucking slut," he shouted, "Fucking worthless slut! All you do is take and leach off me, I swear to God, bitch!"   
  
He smacked her again, tears welled in her eyes, she was covered in bruises from their past 'arguments'. She never knew why she stayed, when ever he got a bit too much to drink he always turned into a monster, but then when he was sober, he wasn't so bad, he was just ruff around the edges, he wasn't a bad man. Dane Truman was not a bad man.   
  
***  
  
'Too bad he didn't exist,' she thought bitterly.  
  
Well, I think this is a good place to end, don't you?  
  
I just want to warn you that I may not be able to update so regularly from now on, I am talking an update once a week, maybe a bit longer, I will try to keep up with it, don't worry though, the fic is still new and fresh!!! I shall keep with it! It'll just take longer.  
  
'Till next time.   
  
(Review please!) 


	3. The Ugliest Queen

Hey everyone! So sorry it has taken me so long to update! I just got carried away with school and cleaning (I live with my dad and brother, being the only female in the house it has become apparent to me that I am the only one here with any initiative to clean, it really sucks how cliché my family is...)   
  
Anyways, I just want to give a big warm THANK YOU to Chances!!! The firstest person to put little old me on a favorite's list! Whoo!*Throws confetti*  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop. It is sad, but it is also true. And I think we should just focus on the 'true' part right now, I have wasted too many a tear of the 'sad' part.  
  
Title: Fallen Petals of the Rose  
  
Chapter 3: The Ugliest Queen  
  
~~~Recap~~~  
  
(Last time...)  
  
***  
  
"Sit down, bitch," the raging mad, drunken voice of Dane rang out. "I'm not fucking done with you yet!"  
  
"God, Dane," Faye screamed, "Get a hold of yourself!"  
  
The drunken Dane smacked Faye across the face to silence her, then he kicked her chair for affect.  
  
"Fucking slut," he shouted, "Fucking worthless slut! All you do is take and leach off me, I swear to God, bitch!"   
  
He smacked her again, tears welled in her eyes; she was covered in bruises from their past 'arguments'. She never knew why she stayed, when ever he got a bit too much to drink he always turned into a monster, but then when he was sober, he wasn't so bad, he was just ruff around the edges, he wasn't a bad man. Dane Truman was not a bad man.   
  
***  
  
'Too bad he didn't exist,' she thought bitterly.  
  
~~~Now~~~  
  
Spike sighed from his hiding place; he wondered what Faye could have possibly done to get on his bad side like that. How did she get mixed up with that scum anyway? It was then he realized that he really didn't know much about her at all.  
  
He lit a cigarette and let it rest in his lips. He didn't have a clue what to do, that Sekart guy seemed to have guys everywhere; he would have to be careful. Then it hit him, if he was going to get anywhere, he would need Faye's help, seeing as she knew him before hand, maybe she had some useful information, she seemed pretty confident that she would be ok. He hoped she wasn't bluffing.  
  
'Maybe Faye still has her link,' he thought, ' but then why didn't she use it? Does she even realize she has it?' He sighed. He had to try something, if they found it on her, they found it, but if they didn't, well, it was a risk worth taking.  
  
"Faye," he said as he opened the link. "Answer me."  
  
Faye was startled as her link began to vibrate, it was Spike. 'Well, I guess I have no choice but to answer it,' she thought, though truthfully, she was a little relieved.   
  
"Spike," she answered.  
  
"Finally," he said, "So, what? Did they leave you alone or something?"  
  
"Not quite," she whispered, "I got locked into a room alone, but I am pretty sure they are guarding the door, but other than that, I don't know. I mean, they weren't expecting me so it's kind of short notice for them to have the room bugged."  
  
"Ok, so what can you tell me about Sekart?" he asked. "I mean, I am just assuming that you guys have some sort of history."  
  
"Let me see," Faye sighed, "Hmm, well he's a gifted con-artist, and you already heard about the robberies and rappings, and you have had a taste of his minions, personally, I don't know that much about the guy, Dane Truman's another story, though."  
  
"Who is 'Dane Truman' and what does he have to do with any of this?" Spike asked impatiently.  
  
"Dane Truman is one of the many faces of Sekart," she sighed. "He doesn't exist and he's the reason I don't know much to help here, but know this, I have gotten away from them before, I can do it again."  
  
"Yeah, but can you get the bounty too?" Spike asked smugly. "I have no doubt that you can get away, but you know as well as I do that we need this bounty."  
  
"Yeah, yeah I know we do," Faye sat on the floor and leaned her back against the foot of the bed. "All we have to do is out smart him, but well, it's kind of hard to out smart the man who could be anybody and any given moment."  
  
"Well, what do you suggest I do then?" Spike asked.   
  
"Study his face, now him," Faye ordered, "Really memorize how he looks and sounds, and don't trust anybody to help. Actually, it couldn't hurt to get to know how a con-artist works, I mean, it's like learning his battle strategy."  
  
"Ok, so it's sort of a 'take one to know one' kind of deal," he concluded.  
  
"Yeah, basically," Faye said indifferently. "Oh one more thing, every time you see him he will be acting differently, even if the next time you see him he's with me, he's got one personality for being nice, another for cruel, he's probably got one for poker. But don't let that fool you; he has a one track mind."  
  
"I thought you said you didn't know much about the guy."  
  
"No more than I should," she shrugged. "And at any rate, if you do some digging you may just find a crack in his system."  
  
"I already have Ed and Jet on it," Spike informed her. Then he smirked, "Count on the kidnapper to leave plenty of time for this conversation."  
  
Faye scrunched her face a little, "It's all a little too cliché for me, just to be safe I think I should go, I'll contact you if I find anything and don't you contact me again, there is no telling when he will show up."  
  
"Fine," Spike said as she closed the link.  
  
Faye let out an exasperated sigh after she closed the link. So much for getting out of this one on her own. She hoped that she would be out of there soon, she didn't like being kept captive, but then, who did? She had a feeling that this would be a long night; she prayed that Drake would be too drunk and tired to bother with her when he came up. It had been a long time since she had taken a real beating, she had become too soft to be able to take the blows the way she used to. 'Damn Bebop,' she mentally cursed it for making her feel so weak.  
  
Getting tired of just sitting there and figuring it would be a while before Drake could pull himself from the poker tables, she got up and decided to take a shower. The situation may suck, but she could be clean and comfortable for at least a little while.  
  
Spike looked up only to see the ugliest woman he had ever layed eyes on staring at him.   
  
"Can I help you?" Spike asked, trying not to stare at the 'uniqueness' of her.  
  
"No, but I can help you," the woman answered in an oddly husky voice.  
  
"What?" Spike asked as he found himself getting pulled into a near by closet by the universe's ugliest woman.  
  
"We are after the same thing," the woman said now that they were safely in the closet, though Spike didn't really feel that secure in his current position.  
  
"And what would that be?" Spike asked trying to be cool with the situation. "And why are we in a closet?"  
  
"Sekart," she answered simply, "He has eyes and ears everywhere."  
  
"And how do I know that you aren't one of them," Spike asked, "How do you know I'm not?"  
  
The woman eyed him skeptically, "You really do need my help," she nodded her head up and down.  
  
Spike noticed that as she did, her Adam's apple went up and down too, 'Wait a minute,' he thought, 'Adam's apple? Girls don't- Oh HOLLY SHIT!'  
  
'She' must have noticed his eye's widen, "Oh, so you just realized did you?"  
  
"Ok, who the hell are you?" Spike asked in a harsh whisper.  
  
"Well, as you don't seem to be in the joking mood," 'she' sighed, "I'll give you my real name; it's Beker, James Beker. But everyone around here knows me as 'Becky'. And I can prove to you that I am on your side."   
  
"And just how do you plan on doing that, 'Becky'?" he asked angrily.  
  
"Simple," James shrugged, "I can get that person he's holding for you."  
  
"And how do you know about that?" He asked.  
  
"I have excellent hearing," James smiled, "But don't worry, nobody else was around."  
  
"Well how do you plan on getting her?" Spike asked impatiently.  
  
"Oooh!" James squealed, "So you are saving a girl friend! How heroic! I wish a man would do that for me!"  
  
"First off, I'm not saving her," he spat, "And second, she's not my girl friend, I only need her help for a bounty."   
  
"Fine, fine," he stepped back, "No need to get defensive. I know you don't trust me, but do you have a choice?"  
  
Spike thought about it a minute, he still had yet to hear from Jet and Ed, "As a matter of fact, I do at the moment."  
  
"Oh I see, well, I'll be around when you change your mind," with that James opened the door and stepped out nonchalantly.  
  
Spike followed but lagged behind as 'Becky' walked away. He shuddered, he never wanted to be pulled into a closet by a cross dresser ever again.  
  
He leaned against the wall for a couple minutes, waiting to hear from Jet on anything they managed to dig up on the guy. Then he remembered why he hated relying on people. Reluctantly, he wandered towards the bar that he saw 'Becky' walk into. Maybe he could help...   
  
"Knew you'd come," he said without even looking up.  
  
"Yeah, so, you said something about helping?" he asked.  
  
"Well, I know something about the Sekart Men," James informed him while playing with the red straw in his drink. "You'd be surprised what you'd hear from slobbering drunks who think they are scoring with a really hot chick."  
  
Spike wasn't sure he wanted to hear the back story, but then he thought this guy might just be useful. "Ok, so what can you tell me?"  
  
"Well, first off, Sekart has too many faces for his men to keep track of, along with an array of different appearances," he explained, "He's a man of many different faces."  
  
"Yeah, so how exactly does this help me?" Spike inquired.  
  
"Anybody who happened to know what was going on, along with the men's names, and asked them to do something and they would most likely do it thinking it was Sekart himself."   
  
Spike absorbed this information... It made sense... It made it seem all too easy. But there was the matter of getting Sekart, while that would let him get to Faye, it wouldn't ensure getting Sekart in the least.  
  
"Well, that takes care of one problem, but what about actually catching the guy?" he asked.  
  
"One thing at a time, Cowboy," James laughed.  
  
"And why are you so keen on helping me?"   
  
"You probably realized by now that I am not in this for free, but don't worry, if you catch Sekart with my help all I want is 10%," he explained. "And as for why I am even bothering to help, well, that man has made my life a living hell, he threatened to kill me a few times too."  
  
"May I ask why?"  
  
"You can ask," he said simply, "Doesn't mean I'll tell."  
  
O.O... I have no idea where to drag queen came from... I swear!   
  
Seriously, I hadn't planned on that happening, but you know, I guess I invented a character who will be playing a considerable role in this ficcy... I wonder how it will all work out... I think I should start to plan out the rest of the chapters so I know 100% exactly where it is going... In fact, I probably should have done that from the beginning.  
  
I hope you all liked the bit of comedy, but it will be taking a more serious turn again (you know, this is a "Drama")... I am pretty sure it will be at least...  
  
(Please Review! I like to hear your opinions!!!) 


	4. The Plan

Hey people! I finally have an outline drawn out! It was so weird making it but I think that all in all people will like this fic, though I realized that there isn't much room for the romance that I thought there would be, but don't worry, this is still a romance!!! (And there will be a chapter to prove it! ... I think) I have figured out that this fic will last around 18 to 20 chapters.  
  
I made a mistake in the last chapter... The recap was from chapter one rather than chapter two... but I am sure you guys figured that out... Anyways, I think that I will just wait until this is all finished to fix up everything, so, until then, bear with the few mistakes from the first few chapters, I am going to be extra, extra careful from now on, though, knowing me, there will still be mistakes.   
  
I'm just going to thank my beautiful reviewers and ask you all a question... Look at my profile and tell me what you think of my latest fic idea, I really want to hear what you have to say about it!!!  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything regarding the Cowboy Bebop plot or its characters... But apparently nobody else wants to take credit for James Becker (aka 'Becky') so I guess (since, in a spurt of insanity, I created him, uh, her- er... it) I'll just call him my own.  
  
Title: Fallen Petals of the Rose  
  
Chapter 4: The Plan  
  
~~~Recap~~~  
  
(Last time...)  
  
"Well, that takes care of one problem, but what about actually catching the guy?" he asked.  
  
"One thing at a time, Cowboy," James laughed.  
  
"And why are you so keen on helping me?"   
  
"You probably realized by now that I am not in this for free, but don't worry, if you catch Sekart with my help all I want is 10%," he explained. "And as for why I am even bothering to help, well, that man has made my life a living hell, he threatened to kill me a few times too."  
  
"May I ask why?"  
  
"You can ask," he said simply, "Doesn't mean I'll tell."  
  
~~~Now~~~  
  
"So now what?" Spike asked.  
  
"Now," James started, "We go to a more private place so as not to be disturbed."  
  
Spiked looked around to see people staring at him awkwardly, he guessed it probably had something to do with the seductive voice that 'Becky' used. He didn't have a choice but to play along so he acted as drunk as he could.  
  
"Ok," he tried to slur," Where do we go?"  
  
'Becky' winked and said, "Well, the closet served the purpose just fine last time, but why don't we go somewhere more comfortable? Like, oh say, my room?"  
  
Spike nodded his head and replied, "Ok."  
  
Soon they were standing outside of James' room, during the ride in the elevator James had explained that he could see some of Sekart's main men enter the bar and thought it best if they got out of there ASAP. Then he asked if Spike new that all along or if he just needed help "coming out of the closet". Spike scowled, James laughed.  
  
They entered the room and James sat down in one of the chairs, Spike chose to stand.   
  
"Ok," James stated, "I think it would be best if we got your little girl friend out of Sekart's clutches, that way, he wont have any black mail material, and the less help we get the better."  
  
"How do you figure?" Spike asked.  
  
"Well, if Sekart catches wind of this, the less people he can go after, the better," he shrugged, "You know, he can't go catch someone because he won't know about them."  
  
"I get it," Spike nodded. "But I have some people who can help us, and they are about 100 miles away."  
  
"What can they do?" James asked.  
  
"Ed can hack into anything, you know, find some dirt on the guy, and then Jet is the level head, he's good back up," Spike explained.  
  
"Ok, well see what they can get on the guy," James told him.  
  
"Ok," Spike said as he activated his link, "Hey Jet, you there?"  
  
"Spike?" Jet's voice questioned.  
  
"Yeah, it's me," Spike assured him.  
  
"Have you gotten any further on the situation?" Jet asked.  
  
"Kind of, I was able to get ahold of Faye, she is fine for the time being," Spike informed him.   
  
"Good, good," Jet nodded, "Ed and I are still working on finding out more, so far we still only have the basic stuff, you know, it's like this guy has no past."  
  
"What do you mean?" Spike asked.  
  
"Well, before 3 years ago, there basically was no Drake Sekart, it's kind of difficult to have no record in this day and age," Jet explained.  
  
"Yeah, that's true," Spike agreed. "What do you think that means?"  
  
"I don't know," Jet sighed, "Either he did his best to stay out of the lime light, or, before a few years ago, there was no Drake Sekart."  
  
That was unexpected. Drake Sekart wasn't real? Then who was that guy? Geez, this just became really confusing.  
  
"Well this is weird," Spike declared. "So this Drake person could just be a fake identity to someone else?"  
  
"That's what I think," Jet shrugged. "So, you're sure that Faye's ok?"  
  
"Yeah," Spike confirmed, "He left her alone in a room, but the door was surrounded."  
  
"Oh, ok," Jet acknowledged.   
  
"I have some help," Spike announced.  
  
"Really?" Jet asked.  
  
"Yeah, his name's James Becker," Spike informed him.  
  
"You sure you can trust that guy?" Jet asked.  
  
"Well, the fact that he's a cross dresser helps, along with the fact that I caught sight of Sekart, or who ever he is, while I was with him." Spike explained, "Plus, he already brought up payment methods."  
  
"I guess you know what your doing, but paying for him is coming out of you and Faye's share," Jet forewarned.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, what ever," Spike brushed it off. "So, do you have any ideas of what we should do?"  
  
"Get Faye out of there first," Jet advised, "That way, he can't threaten her life or something."  
  
"Yeah," Spike agreed, "Now the only question is, how?"  
  
"Hmm," Jet murmured. "This is interesting."  
  
"What's that?" Spike asked.  
  
"Well, apparently, at every murder scene he is suspected of he leaves a bit of a calling card." Jet explained.  
  
"Oh? And what's that?"  
  
"Wilted rose petals." Jet said, "Spread all over the victim."  
  
"Weird."  
  
"I'll say," Jet agreed.   
  
"Wonder what it means," Spike wondered.  
  
"Don't know, maybe it's just something he does for flare, it might not mean anything," Jet suggested.  
  
"Yeah, you're right," Spike agreed. "Well, let me know when you find anything interesting, I've gotta go now."  
  
"Right," Jet said, "Later."  
  
"Later."  
  
"So, did you find anything?" James asked now that Spike closed the link.  
  
"Well, Drake Sekart might not be a real person, but other than that, not much really," Spike told him.  
  
"I don't know how much they will be able to find out," James said, "Sekart, or who ever he is, is rather secretive, considering."  
  
"Not exactly good for us, is it?"   
  
"Nope particularly, no," James nodded.  
  
"So, we should get Faye out of there first," Spike suggested.  
  
"Yes, that would be the best thing to do, get her away from him," James agreed.  
  
"So before you sounded like you had some sort of plan or something," Spike prompted.  
  
"I just might have something," James admitted.   
  
"Care to share with the class?"  
  
"I had the crazy idea that you could pose as Sekart to his men, you know, while he was occupied with something else..." James started, "Then you could get to the girl and get her out of there."  
  
"You're crazy, there's no way I could pull that off!" Spike shouted.  
  
"Why not?" James asked, "You're around the same height as him, your voices aren't that different sounding, and with a little disguise you could easily fool the men, as I said before, Sekart is a man with an ever changing face, they never know what to expect."  
  
"Then how do those guys ever really know when it's Sekart?" Spike asked.  
  
"What guy in there right mind would go off and try to control those guys if they weren't really Sekart?"  
  
Spike thought about this a second, "Good point."  
  
"Thought so," James said with a smile.  
  
"So, we are basically going to try and con his men?" Spike asked for clarification.  
  
"Basically," James shrugged.   
  
"So how do I go about doing this?" Spike asked.  
  
"Oh, I think you should just study him and his actions for a little while, but keep your distance, if he catches you; well that basically ends the plan." James explained.  
  
"Right," Spike nodded, "So I learn how to be Sekart, and then trick his men into giving me Faye."  
  
"That's the plan."  
  
"Ok, so let's get going," Spike said, preparing to go back down to the casino.  
  
"Do you have anything else to wear?" James asked.  
  
"Why?"   
  
"One of his men might recognize that outfit on you," James warned.  
  
"You're right, I do have something else, but what would I wear when I am pretending to be Sekart?" Spike asked.  
  
"That is where I come in, my friend," James grinned, "I have more that just female clothing, you know."  
  
"Great," Spike said as he made his way to the bathroom to change.  
  
Ok, so... Is the plot starting to unfold? Is it captivating all of you? Or is it all just so-so? If you want me to know what you think there is only one thing to do, and it won't take that long either! Want a hint? It involves that button down there that says "Submit Review"... I am sure you know what I am talking about.  
  
Next chapter we are going to take a look at what's happening to Faye... See her thoughts, endure more commentary... The action will be returning in a couple chapters! Maybe by chapter 6. 


	5. The Wilting Rose

Hey people. So sorry for the wait. My computer is lacking the word processor so I could spell check anything. *Sigh* It is rather annoying. Anyway, this was going to be another boring chapter, but I figured that the plot could possibly live without it so, lucky for you, you shall not have to deal with it. (And the crowd goes WILD!) Yes, if you guys like the kind of think I think you like, then you should hopefully be happy with this chappy. Heh, it took me a long time to write.  
  
So, without further adieu, here's the chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop, I have never, and will never, claim to.  
  
Title: Fallen Petals of the Rose  
  
Chapter 5: The Wilting Rose  
  
Last time...  
  
**********  
  
"Ok, so let's get going," Spike said, preparing to go back down to the casino.  
  
"Do you have anything else to wear?" James asked.  
  
"Why?"   
  
"One of his men might recognize that outfit on you," James warned.  
  
"You're right, I do have something else, but what would I wear when I am pretending to be Sekart?" Spike asked.  
  
"That is where I come in, my friend," James grinned, "I have more that just female clothing, you know."  
  
"Great," Spike said as he made his way to the bathroom to change.  
  
**********  
  
~~~Now~~~  
  
Wanted all throughout space for rapes and robberies, a con artist who had stolen millions of wulongs and had an entourage of 100 men, he is dangerous and cunning. Sekart was perfect; the perfect con artist, the perfect manipulative raper. A true blue dangerous man. Yes, Sekart was a devious genius. Mastered by the rose.  
  
'Those fools,' he thought with a smirk as he looked around the poker table. 'They have no clue, heh.'  
  
No, not a single person surrounding the table knew quite who he was, oh sure, they all thought they did, but they didn't. The name he had given everyone at the hotel was Nathan King, business tycoon and millionaire. He was a man of one hundred faces. 'Those news writers were clever,' he smirked. 'They were, after all, the ones who came up with that stunning title.'  
  
He flashed a smile as the waitress brought him his drink, he tipped generously, as was the nature of Nathan King, he wasn't a generous man, he just liked to flaunt his cash. Nathan King was one of his favorite types of characters. Sekart was playing the roll of a life time.   
  
His mood and spirit were lifted high, of course, it helped that with his current hand, there was no way he could lose. He had a nameless woman attached to his arm, a confidence booster of sorts. She looked at the rose in his jacket's breast pocket.  
  
"Oh, honey," she said in her maraschino cherry voice, "Your rose is starting to wilt! You're going to need to throw it away soon, before the petals start falling off."  
  
He looked down to see if her words were true. "Yes, it seems so," he said in his perfected 'Bord' voice. But in truth, the wheels of his mind were spinning like mad. Tonight he would kill. Tonight Faye Valentine would die. He was almost giddy, picturing her dead body lying on his bed, the wilted petals from the very rose in his pocket, sprinkled delicately over her cold body. An other sacrifice for the Roses.   
  
He smiled with confidence as he folded his hand and politely excused himself from the game, Nathan King, was, after all, horrible at poker, it would have been out of character for him to win. After he detached the nameless wonder from his arm he made his way to the bar, where he could sit in a dark corner and plan. Plan for tonight's sacrifice. He would delight in killing her. He was happy his roses decided to let her be the one to go. It wilted on the day she stepped back into his life. 'Yes,' he thought, 'And her foolish lover, ah to see the look on his face when he finds she's dead!'  
  
'Rape,' he thought, 'Yes, she will die in a painful way.' A grin grew on his face. 'Drugs would be best, give them to her first.' He ordered a drink as he continued to contemplate. It could be a lot of work, planning a perfect murder, even though he had perfected it over the years. He anticipated telling Ms. Faye Valentine the same line he told all his victims; That their death was not in vain, that with it, they were honoring something bigger.   
  
Not that he ever mentioned what that 'something bigger' was.  
  
She deserved this death. She had left him, nobody left him and got away with it, but she had, for too long now. She found out his secret, there was no Dane Truman, it was all Drake Sekart,   
  
Now, you may have come to the conclusion by now that Sekart is certifyingly insane. Well, you're wrong. You sort of have to exist to be insane. No, the real insane person was the man behind the mask, or rather, the man behind the name...  
  
And who might that be? Well, none other than Robby Shnider; the dork from school.  
  
Everybody has met some sort of version of a Robby Shnider, the nerd in school that everyone picked on, the one boy who just didn't fit in.   
  
Robby Shnider was that, and then some. His entire school life was filled with torture and ridicule from his peers. Robby's family was poor, Mr. Shnider didn't make that much money, he sold real estate for a living. Robby had to wear second hand clothing. His speech was slurred with a horrible lisp throughout much of his public education, this added to the fact that Robby ate items such as glue and chalk up until the 5th grade didn't lead to unsurmountable popularity. On the contrary, it lead to Sekart.  
  
Drake Sekart was Robby's childhood hero, fabricated from Robby's own mind. He would day dream about the cool Mr. Sekart coming and teaching all of his enemies a lesson, whisking him and his mother away from his father. It wasn't until after he got out of high school that a devious plot crept into his mind.   
  
He would become his imaginary idle. He would make Drake Sekart teach them a lesson.   
  
But, like all things, it takes a burst of motivation before anything got started.   
  
To understand Robby a little better, it is important to know that he was incredibly close with his mother, whose favorite thing in the whole world was red roses. There home had always been filled with them, red roses were everywhere you looked. His father had never liked them much, but kept them around all the same. He was an angry man, who hated the fact that his son reflected so poorly upon him. His mother was always the one who stood up for him, which made Robby love her even more. It was safe to say that he loathed his father.   
  
His mother got sick, and everything good in his life seemed to come crashing down. Mrs. Shnider was confined to her bed, and Mr. Shnider tended to take out his grievances on his son, in a violent sort of way. His mother was too weak to do anything about it.  
  
When his mother finally past, his father got rid of all the roses, as to ease his pain, all but one; the one that Robby coveted for himself. It lasted one week before it started to wilt, and thus, his heinous tradition started.   
  
His father was his first victim; the first person Drake Sekart was ever to believed to have killed, with the tell-tale sign of rose petals resting on his stiff body, it was also believed that *Rider Shnider's son, Robby, was also murdered, but his body was never found.  
  
'My father may have been a horrible man in life,' Robby thought as he looked back on his old home for one last time, 'But he died for mother; a noble death for The Rose.'  
  
He waited. He went into hiding, under a new name and waited for his time. He watched as his ex-classmates grew and their lives flourished, well, some of them flourished. The 5 year anniversary of his mother's death was when he first struck. His first, or rather, second, victim was a man by the name of Albert Misco, whom had acquired a lovely wife. Little did he know, she would be his down fall.   
  
Mrs. Misco was quickly growing bord with her life. Mr. Rick Billiard was a welcomed change. He was an artist, poetic, exciting. Their affair was an affair to remember. But one faithful night, while Albert was away on business, Mr. Billiard whisked Mrs. Misco to a lavish hotel, his formal wear included a rose in his breast pocket. He kept the rose, telling her that it would be stupid to throw it away as long as it was still alive. Then it, inevitably, started to wilt, the memory of his mother's last rose flooded Robby's mind. He had to honor his mother, and what's more, fate also seemed to agree with him, seeing as the day was the anniversary of her death.   
  
In the duration of their relationship, Billiard had pulled much useful information from Mrs. Misco, such as bank information, pin numbers, and she practically gave him everything he ever needed, they could, as she pointed out to him many times, afford it, after all. He had it all planned out, he emptied out Albert Misco's account and set to work.   
  
The death, and obvious betrayal of his wife left him all but broken. Albert Misco killed himself a week later. And as for Mr. Billiard? Well, he went away as well. Sekart looked on with content at what he had created. Revenge was sweet. Robby swelled with pride as his hero did what he had always dreamed of, and since his mother wasn't there, Sekart would just have to keep honoring her memory.   
  
Soon, Sekart had acquired more money than he knew what to do with, ruining people turned out to be a very prosperous way to make a living. But he realized that, with out help, his empire would crumble. He needed men to do research for him, so he could learn everything he needed to about his future victims, he also need protection for when the police caught wind of him. And so, his arsenal of one hundred men came to be.  
  
There came a time when he decided to lay low for a while. Just a few months, to gather his bearings and get caught up with the lives of his foes. Dane Truman was a hard working man who was down on his luck. His kind attitude and loving ways won the heart of the lost Faye Valentine, who was looking for a place to call home. Little did she know that Sekart had decide to make Dane a multi-dimensional character, he had an angry side, an abusive side to him. Faye was the main recipient of his harsh blows, both verbal and physical.   
  
He had no intention of killing her, she had no ties to his childhood enemies. He had always taken her as weak, passive and easily controlled. He was really thrown for a loop when she left. She had taken a bit of Dane's money, which was a small fraction of the Sekart billions, and all her belongings, she left only a note, which read:  
  
"I thought I had found a home with you, an escape to the confusion my life left me with,  
  
when I saw your other side, I told myself that you still loved me, you still cared, I thought that  
  
I could get you to stop, but I was wrong, 8 months of being your punching bag was hard enough,  
  
Finding out that Dane Truman didn't even exist was even harder. Too hard, even. I fell for a   
  
fictional character. I don't know much about you, Sekart, but I can tell you this, you have messed  
  
with me for the last time.  
  
Good bye."  
  
It took him a month of digging to figure out how she found out his secret. It lead to the death of 5 of his men, only 2 of which had anything to do with the information leak. The other two were just to show the rest of his men an example of his possible wrath.   
  
Faye knew his secret, and was therefore dangerous. He either had to get rid of her, or stay away. She left without a trace, she didn't use any of his credit cards and the wulongs she did have were untraceable. If he were to go after her and she were to tell, well, there would be a definite problem. He stayed away.  
  
When his name showed up on the "Most Wanted" list, he feared the worst. But his men and his constant moving protected him. He wondered why Faye had waited a year to give out his information. But that didn't matter, he laughed when ever the thought about it. All that worrying for nothing.   
  
He was both thrilled and surprised with his men gave word of a firey woman looking for Sekart. There was only one woman that could possibly be; Faye Valentine.  
  
Oh, yes, he would make her pay. She had almost willingly wandered into the location where most of his men were stationed. She practically walked willingly into her own death. And a sweet death that would be. He would make absolutely sure of that.   
  
'Faye Valentine,' he thought to himself from the dark confines of the bar, 'Tonight, you will be mine, tonight you will die for the rose, for Robby, for Sekart... Tonight you will learn that Dane Truman never loved you, in character he was just using you for a good rut every now and again, something to make him feel better. You were always worthless to him.'  
  
He sneered. He would break her tonight and he could hardly wait. He could almost see the first petal of the rose falling in just a few short hours. Nathan King would be the one to rape her. He could almost hear the gasps from the people of the casino, who would brag and gossip about how they had been so close to the killer, how it could have just as easily had been them to die, rather than that 'poor girl', as he was sure they would call her. Everyone pity's the dead. Yes, that nameless blond who had attached herself to him would fall into a hyperventilating fit.   
  
He loved surprising people, their reactions were so delightful to him. But the reaction he wanted to see most of all was the one that would belong to that man Valentine had been with. Yes, as far as he was concerned, Faye had never stopped being his and that man had no right to take her away.   
  
He would pay for even thinking about caring for Faye. And Faye would pay even more for leaving. Yeah, that man would suffer, he assumed that weak man would break down after finding out about Faye's death. And Sekart and Robby would laugh their heads off at him.   
  
Nathan King's grin grew in the dark.  
  
Yes, it is sad what ridicule can do to a man. Insanity is a killer.   
  
Drake Sekart was so caught up in his thoughts, his sick, twisted, and amusing thoughts, that he didn't notice the pair of piercing two toned eyes watching him. Waiting for the perfect time to make his move.  
  
"Sekart, you'll be as good as dead when I get through with you."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
* Yes, I named his father "Rider Shnider", and while I realize that it is entirely cruel, I cannot help it, it is the name that I saw him being, well, at the time I sort of over looked the fact that his last name was "Shnider"... Not the point... Eh-hem...  
  
I know that this chapter was kind of short, but this chapter was so fun to write! Robby is one screwed up cookie, huh? But in actual fact, I find him kind of interesting, he's got all these dimensions and layers to him. Besides the fact that he's one bad dude, he's kind of cool... In a psycho kind of way. Heh, heh, I actually learned a lot about him... The man just sort of started to write himself...   
  
Creepy... *Twilight Zone Music Plays*  
  
Review please!  
  
~DRC~ 


	6. The One Night Charade

A/N Hey there people! I am so sorry! Gah! It's taken me another long time to spit out an update! I have been busy with my school stuffs, and of course, being separated from my dearest laptop over spring break... It was a tragic time... But my dear laptop and I have been reunited and all is well with the world once again... I hope this chapter will please you!   
  
Oh, and I decided that I estimated wrong... This fic is going to be shorter than originally planned due to the fact that I doubt want to bore you to death... or piss you off to the point of explosion with really short, boring chapters... So, I am cutting out some of the unnecessary dribble (don't worry, you'll still get the same info... just far less drawn out...). So, now this fic may very well be no more that 10-12 chapters long, I severely over estimated when I made the outline... So, I'm correcting this mistake and hope that all will be well with you, hopefully to be less bored, people.   
  
(I am afraid that there won't be THAT much fluffy goodness in here... (except for one chapter... ^m^ (TeeHee)))  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop... I'm sure it would be nice to... But alas, the world is not that kind.  
  
Title: Fallen Petals of the Rose  
  
Chapter 6: The One-Night Charade  
  
(Warning: This chapter has some sexual reference, and some rather distasteful talk... Some people may or may not want to read that...)  
  
Last time...  
  
**********  
  
He would pay for even thinking about caring for Faye. And Faye would pay even more for leaving. Yeah, that man would suffer, he assumed that weak man would break down after finding out about Faye's death. And Sekart and Robby would laugh their heads off at him.   
  
Nathan King's grin grew in the dark.  
  
Yes, it is sad what ridicule can do to a man. Insanity is a killer.   
  
Drake Sekart was so caught up in his thoughts, his sick, twisted, and amusing thoughts, that he didn't notice the pair of piercing two toned eyes watching him. Waiting for the perfect time to make his move.  
  
"Sekart, you'll be as good as dead when I get through with you."  
  
**********  
  
Now...  
  
All that day, Spike crept in the shadows, he watched Sekart, recorded his voice so he could practice it later, and watched how he treated his men... He realized that Sekart treated them with a roughness, he acted as though his men were utterly beneath him and that they should be thrilled at his presence... In other words... The man had a major inferiority complex.  
  
Spike could play the part of a "macho man", he'd done it enough, Sekart wouldn't be too difficult to play. He just hoped that his men were stupid enough to fall for his act... It would take some costume to pull in the complete "Sekart" effect. But Becky... or James... or whatever he... or... she? Was called seemed pretty confident. He didn't have time to waste worrying, he had no clue what actions that clearly unstable man might make against Faye. He most certainly did NOT want HIM touching HER at all. The thought almost made him shudder... but that caused more not-so-nice thoughts to flood his mind... It was settled, there was no way in a freezing hell that Sekart, or whoever he just happened to be, would lay so much as a finger on her.   
  
It was time for him to prepare for his act. He made his way to James' room, he still had a lot of work to do.  
  
"You're back?" James/Becky inquired.   
  
"Yup," he answered gruffly, "Come on, we've got work to do."  
  
"You are SO right, girlfriend!" Becky said in a joking tone. Spike shot him such an icy glare it could have frozen the sun. "Alright, alright," James nodded, "Point taken, I won't joke around anymore... I keep forgetting that you have your girlfriend's life riding on all this."  
  
"Good," Spike spat... as an afterthought he added, "Faye's NOT my girlfriend."  
  
"Fine, fine, whatever you say," James laughed, "Come on, I have your "Sekart" suit already waiting for you."  
  
"Alright, but before I get ready, I need to contact Jet," he said.  
  
"Alright," James beamed, "Be my guest."  
  
"Jet," Spike said firmly to his com-link.  
  
"Spike?" Jet asked, "That you?"  
  
"Yeah," he nodded, "Any more info on Sekart?"  
  
"Actually, Ed found something interesting regarding the name "Sekart" about 8 years ago," he explained, "I was just about to get ahold of you to tell you about it."  
  
"And what did you find?" he asked eagerly.  
  
"His first murder, supposedly, was two men, a father and son, Rider and Robby Shnider." he explained, "All of his other murders have been female... so I just don't see how this adds up;he killed two men, then he disappeared for 5 years before killing only women."  
  
"I don't know," Spike shook his head, "But I should tell you that we have a plan to get Faye out... it may sound insane, but I'm going to pose as Sekart and basically walk Faye out of here."  
  
Jet thought about this a second, "That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard!" he declared, "But then, you might just be stupid enough to pull it off."  
  
"Oh har-har," Spike said sarcastically, "But don't you mean his men might be stupid enough to let me?"  
  
"That too," Jet shrugged.  
  
"Well, I have to go, the sooner we get Faye out, the better," Spike said.  
  
"Why Spike," he laughed, "I hadn't realized you'd grown to care so much for Faye."  
  
"Why Jet," Spike spat cynically, "I had no idea you had become such the little comedian, might I suggest you keep with your day job?" he sighed, "I'll let you know when we got her out, I gotta go." He closed the link before Jet could respond.  
  
He turned to James, "Let's get this over with."  
  
"The suit's in the bath room," he replied simply.  
  
Spike pulled on "Sekart's" suit as James... or was it Becky? Readied his supplies to complete the "Sekart" transformation. The supplies included contacts, to hide his two-toned eyes, a hair piece, and some make-up, a specialty of Becky's.  
  
"So, tell me," Spike said as Becky readied him for his staring role as "Sekart". "Why is it you want to get back at him so bad? I mean, I know he's not exactly the sweetest man in the world, but what could he have done to you... I mean, no offense or anything, but he is only after women."  
  
"Yeah well," Becky shrugged, "It's a long story. But you know, I'm not the prettiest little thing in the world, I know it, everybody does, but I still get my run-around. It just so happened that one night, Norman Kendal happened to be a one-night charade."  
  
"A one-night charade?" Spike asked.  
  
"Yep, people like me don't have "one-night stands", amazingly enough, those are committed on honesty, well sort of, you see, more often than not, the kind of man I can get is a drunk one, or one pretending to be drunk, either way, it's all faked," Becky explained. "You would be surprised how many men take me as a man-whore, you know, not looking for a long term thing, just a quick fuck with a man that doesn't know what the hell he wants, I sure as hell have had my fill of them. Norman happened to be a pretend drunk. One night, we ended up in my room for the rutting, and when it was over, he held a gun to my head and threatened to make my life a living hell if I told anyone about it."  
  
"Damn, that's harsh," Spike said.  
  
"Yeah, later the next day I saw him with some woman wrapped around his arm, she died that night," he shuddered, "And I just keep thinking, I had slept with a killer, of course, they then proved that it was that "Sekart" guy who did it. That's how I learned about him."  
  
"Jesus," Spike spat, "That man is sick."  
  
"All men are, sweety," Becky said in a slightly distant voice, "But God help me if I don't love them."  
  
~*~  
  
Faye paced around the room, she hadn't heard from Spike since this morning, this had been an amazingly drawn out day. She had no clue what would happen, if Sekart would come back soon. She shuddered, realizing that if she came face to face with him again, she would hardly be able to put up a fight, she remembered his brutal blows... She wouldn't be able to take another round of them. She sighed, she really had become too soft.   
  
... If only they hadn't confiscated her gun.  
  
Sitting on the bed, she put her head in her hands and took a deep breath, it was then she was over taken with a feeling of claustrophobia. 'Such perfect timing,' she thought bitterly and she tried to calm herself with deep breaths. She was practically falling apart, she was a woman of action, sitting around and doing nothing only made her think; and thinking made her worry. Worrying made her weak. She walked into the bath room and splashed water on her face, then crawled out and sat on the floor with her back against the foot of the bed.   
  
"Spike, get your sorry ass up here already." she demanded in a whisper. She felt low.  
  
~*~  
  
At 5pm, the transformation was complete. It was time for Becky's distraction.   
  
Becky found the woman the Spike had told him about, the one who had been hanging off Sekart's arm earlier,   
  
Becky made her move.  
  
"Excuse me, Miss?" "she" said in a confident tone.  
  
"Yes?" she said, eying Becky with distaste.   
  
"I am very sorry to bother you, but you came here with a gentlemen, did you not?"  
  
"Yes, I did," she spat, "Though I really don't see how it's any business of yours."  
  
"It isn't!" Becky replied with assurance, "But I just thought you'd like to know, I have seen him in the bar looking rather lonely... eying up a few of the waitresses and all, now, I'm not saying anything to demoralize the man, but you might like to go check up on him... You know, prevent things from happening." Becky smiled at the hidden double meaning of his words.  
  
"Ok, so, tell me something, why tell me? What concern is it of yours?" she asked critically.  
  
"It's simply that I'd hate to see such a lovely couple just get broken up!" Becky said sincerely, "I said to myself when I first saw you and him 'Now, don't they look like a perfect couple!' and when I saw him off alone, I just couldn't stand the thought of such a perfect couple to be broken up! I know you must think me a busy body but I just couldn't help myself!"  
  
The woman looked a little stunned at the rather emotional sounding statement, she decided that she could believe the... person's words, and said, "Well, thank you for letting me know, now if you'll excuse me..."  
  
"Oh, but of course!" Becky smiled. 'Well,' he though, 'I've bought Spike at least 20 minutes to get Faye into the docking bay.'  
  
Mean while, Spike was approaching Faye's room. The guards, Sekart's men, stood watching the man closely.  
  
"Let me in to see my little Faye," he demanded in the voice he had practiced, "She has a lesson that needs to be taught."   
  
He looked the men right in the eye.   
  
"Right away, Mr. Sekart," one man said.  
  
"Idiot!" Spike spat in a harsh whisper, "Nathan King! Slip up like that again and I'll be forced to punish you!"  
  
The other guard elbowed the "Idiot", "Dumb ass!" he said as he opened the door for his "Leader".  
  
"By the way," he said coolly, "I'm taking Faye for a little trip, tonight's going to be a big night for her, and I want her to be far away from "Nathan King", I have kind of grown fond of him."  
  
"Oh, I understand, me too, boss," the "Idiot" sucked up.  
  
"Good." "Sekart" sneered as he closed the door behind him, he hoped Faye would see through the disguise and not try to kick his ass.   
  
What he saw down right frightened him.   
  
Faye must have heard him talking, for she was backed in a corner, like a frightened animal. He had never seen such fear in her eyes, it nearly made him vomit to see her cower like that in front of him. Though, to anyone else, it hardly looked like cowering, she did, after all, have that leathal glow to her.  
  
"Faye," he said in his true voice, "Calm down, Faye."  
  
She let herself relax her tensed muscles at the sound of his voice, "Spike? Oh thank God."  
  
"Yeah, well, we still gotta get out over here," he said, "Don't thank God just yet."  
  
"How the hell did you get past his men?" she asked, "I mean, you don't look a thing like him."  
  
"What?" he asked, "And after you nearly had a heart attack from thinking I was him?"  
  
"Hey!" she said, "It's not exactly bright in here, I couldn't really see you, it's a good thing you at least can make your voice sound like his, I guess, though, promise me that when this is over with, you won't ever talk like that again."  
  
"I promise," he promised. "Ok, so, we need to make this look believable, so come here, I'm going to get "my men" to escort us to the docking bay."  
  
"Alright, fine," Faye muttered as she approached him, she let him grab her arms behind her back and march her out the door.   
  
"Alright," Spike said in his "Sekart" voice, "You," he pointed to the man not deemed "Idiot", "You're going to escort my dear Faye and I, so you'll be nice and safe, won't you Faye?"  
  
"Asshole," Faye spat.  
  
"Oh look at that," Spike mocked, "She's trying to act tough." He turned to one of his minions," Alright, lets get going. Oh, and we're going to the docking bay, I don't want you to follow us through the casinol, it would look too suspicious, and don't worry," he flashed a gun, "Faye won't be going anywhere."  
  
"Right, boss," the man muttered as they started down the hall, once in the elevator "Sekart" released Faye, "You and I will have an interesting evening," he laughed.   
  
"Pig," Faye seethed.  
  
Spike resisted the urge to smirk, he realized that she was speaking to him no differently than she would were they on the Bebop, not that the other guy would know. He could almost sense Faye's radiating relief.   
  
"Shut your trap," He spat, having a difficult time keeping a straight face talking like that, it would be so much easier just to kick the ass of the unsuspecting henchman, but that would alert Sekart to their... actions.   
  
"You shouldn't disrespect Mr. Sekart, I mean, Mr. King, like that, he's a very powerful man," the nameless henchman warned.  
  
"You would do well to listen to his advice," "Sekart" sized up the man, "I'm surprised that the stupidity from that other man didn't rub off on you."  
  
"Thank you, sir." the man responded with a bow right before the ding of the elevator rang, announcing that they had reached their desired floor. "You," he looked at the man, "Stay here at the elevator, and watch us go out the door, once we are out, I want you to go and wait at the door, for... security reasons."  
  
"But boss, what's up there to watch if you have-"  
  
"Do you dare question me?" he asked in a harsh whisper.  
  
"N-no, of, of course not.. Mr... King," he stuttered.  
  
"Good, now you have your orders," he smirked and grabbed Faye's hand, "Come with me, dearest." he laughed in an almost evil cackle. Faye did her best to look like she was hiding fear and anger with a cool composure. She could really act when she needed to.  
  
Soon they reached the door to the docking bay; it was as if he could feel a huge weight lifted off his chest, a weight he hadn't even realized was there, he couldn't even imagine how Faye felt.  
  
"Excuse me," a man in a uniform said, "Mr. King?"  
  
A/N... Alright, I think that this is a wonderful place to end the chapter... It gives me something to feed into chapter 7, which shouldn't take me too long to get out. I realize I said this before... Probably more than once... And I am really angry at myself that I keep taking so long to update, I honestly don't mean to, it just happens. *Sigh* I have no idea where my time slips off to these days. I think aliens have been stealing it from me.   
  
Stupid aliens.   
  
='_'= (note the non-topic related face)  
  
Well, review, I do appreciate it, even though it may not seem like I do, I love your reviews dearly. Yes, I'm sucking up... Deal with it.  
  
~DRC~ 


	7. Hotel Hell

**A/N:** I don't know if I have said this yet, but I love all my reviewers! *hugs reviewers* You guys are super sweet and I'm glad you like this fic! I really appericiate your messages! ^_^ They brighten my day! And it's because of you guys and your reviews that I tried to get this fic out sooner than normal. I hope that I continue to please you all!   
  
**Disclaimer**: I hold no claim over the plot or characters of Cowboy Bebop.   
  


**Title:** Fallen Petals of the Rose   
  
**Chapter 7:** Hotel Hell   
  
  


_Last time...  
~*~   
  
"Do you__dare_ question me?" he asked in a harsh whisper.   
  
"N-no, of, of course not.. Mr... King," he stuttered.   
  
"Good, now you have your orders," he smirked and grabbed Faye's hand, "Come with me, _dearest_." he laughed in an almost evil cackle. Faye did her best to look like she was hiding fear and anger with a cool composure. She could really act when she needed to.   
  
Soon they reached the door to the docking bay; it was as if he could feel a huge weight lifted off his chest, a weight he hadn't even realized was there, he couldn't even imagine how Faye felt.   
  
"Excuse me," a man in a uniform said, "Mr. King?"   
  
~*~   
Now...   
  
  
Spike tensed up, but turned to see that it was only the Valet Parking guy.   
  
"Yes?" he asked in the non-agitated voice that Sekart used with strangers.   
  
"Would you like me to get your ship for you?" the man asked.   
  
"No," he said, "Not today, we shall be taking my lady friend's ship, here, but thank you."   
  
"Oh, of course, sir," he said as he walked back to his post.   
  
They weren't quite home-free just yet.   
  
Spike and Faye walked as calmly as they could to their ship; if they rushed it would look suspicious. They did, however, get there with little trouble, seeing as people don't usually loiter around in the docking bay much.   
  
Soon, they were in the ship and flying out into open space. Two sighs of relief were the silence breaker.   
  
"You alright, Faye?" asked Spike as he started to pull off his costume.   
  
"Yeah, just fine," she replied curtly.   
  
"Geez," he said, "I would think you would be happier to be out of there."   
  
"I am," she said.   
  
"Then what are you so worked up about?" he asked.   
  
Faye looked out into the black abyss, "You wouldn't understand."   
  
"Try me."   
  
Faye looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "I'd rather not," she said, "Where are we going anyway?"   
  
"There's a small station a few miles from here, we are going to stay there for the night," Spike said as he looked at Faye. "There is another change of clothes in the back, you should probably change before we get there."   
  
"And how do you expect me to do that?" she asked hotly, "There's not exactly a lot of space in here."   
  
"Hmm, good point," Spike said. "Well, then I guess you won't change then."   
  
"Smart one," Faye grumbled sarcastically.   
  
"Hey! Is this the thanks I get for getting you out of there?" He asked with a tinge of annoyance.   
  
"I never asked you to get me," she said distantly, though, still pissed-off sounding.   
  
"I well, I wouldn't have if it wasn't necessary, but I couldn't risk you getting hurt in the process of capturing Sekart!" he shouted, "I couldn't have him hold you ransom!"   
  
"And what difference would it make to you, anyway?" she asked, "So what if he hurt me, what's it to you?"   
  
"What's it to me?" he repeated, "You're my partner in this, Faye, it wouldn't be right just to let you fry if I could save you."   
  
"Oh yeah right," Faye laughed bitterly.   
  
"What do you want from me?" he asked, "Geez, are you mad because it was my fault you got captured by him in the first place? I got you out again, didn't I?"   
  
"Your fault," she repeated, "How was it your fault?"   
  
"What?" he asked, "It was my fault because I didn't come when you first told me to, if I had been there in the first place, none of this would have happened."   
  
"No," Faye said firmly, "It wasn't your fault." then she whispered in a tone barley audible, "It was mine."   
  
  
~*~   
  
  
James sat on a bar stool in a darker area of the bar, nursing his drink as he listened to "Mr. King" and his lady friend talk. He definitely had a way with words. He eventually coaxed the girl away, and as soon as she was out of sight, he adorned a devious grin.   
  
'He so thinks he's getting his way with that chick tonight,' James thought with a smile. He delighted in the fact that they had managed to be one step ahead of him. He loved the fact that they had out smarted him. 'Soon,' he thought, 'Soon Sekart will pay.'   
  
  
"Mr. King" went got to his room. "Back so soon, boss?" one of the henchman asked.   
  
"Yes," he grinned, "Now let me in to see my little Faye, she has a lesson that needs to be taught."   
  
"Uh," the other one said intelligently, "Boss, you left with her about an hour ago, don't you remember? She's not here anymore."   
  
"What?" he said in a voice so low and enraged it could make even a strong man want to kill himself to avoid the consequences of causing that voice.   
  
"Uh, yeah, Boss," the other henchman said, with his courage faltering, "You... left... with... her."   
  
"I clearly did nothing of the sort!" he yelled, "Do you mean to tell me that you let someone come and take that bitch away? Are you so idiotic that you couldn't tell it wasn't me!?!"   
  
The men would be found dead a week later drifting through space in an unregistered vehicle. Sekart would have no provable ties with the murder.   
  
  
~*~   
  
  
Faye looked torn; she didn't really give a flying fuck about it, she was too caught up with the thoughts swarming around in her head. Thought suddenly brought on when Spike tried to take the responsibility for her capture. She had the chance to escape, to end it all. It would have only taken a signal bullet and then it would have been over. She was sure that he would have been excepted for the bounty dead, especially his death had been self defense, but... It wasn't the first time she had failed to shoot him. He had some power over her that she just couldn't ignore. She hated feeling weak.   
  
Spike sent Faye a few worried glances out of the corner of his eye. Something was suddenly bothering her. Something big. As much as he hated to admit it; he couldn't stand seeing her so upset. He would have said something to comfort her, but he found he had no clue what to say, and in her current state, she might not even hear him.   
  
Faye pulled herself together as she saw a structure emerge in the abyss, she reasoned that it was the station she and Spike would be staying at that night. "That it?" she asked, breaking the long standing silence.   
  
"Yup," he said as he brought the ship in to land.   
  
They walked together up to the receptionist desk, where a large, hairy, uncaring looking man sat.   
  
"I'd like two rooms for the night, please," Spike asked.   
  
"Only got one room left," the man said indifferently.   
  
Spike looked to Faye, "Don't worry, it's probably got two beds in it."   
  
"Nope," the man said, "It's a single."   
  
Spike looked a little desperate, "Smoking?" he asked.   
  
"Non," the man replied simply.   
  
Spike's face dropped a little, of all the time he needed a smoke, this was definitely one of them, and because of Faye, he'd probably have to sleep in a cot, or, most likely, considering the wonderful costumer service this place offered, the floor. "Fine," he said gruffly, "We'll take it."   
  
"80 wulongs," the man said.   
  
Spike shoved over the cash, "Enjoy your stay," the man said in a monotone, over practiced voice as he handed Spike the room key.   
  
"Yeah _right_," Spike muttered.   
  
Faye got her change of clothes out of the ship and they walked up to the room. Once inside, she locked herself in the bathroom to change, though, noting the quality of the room they had attained, she doubted the reliability of the lock.   
  
Spike sat down on the ancient queen sized bed and pulled out his com-link. He contacted Jet.   
  
"Jet, it's me," Spike said.   
  
"Spike? Did everything go alright? Faye out?" Jet asked.   
  
"Yeah, she's fine and everything, I don't think he got a change to really get to her," Spike explained.   
  
"That's good, so, is the plan to get Sekart still a go?" Jet asked.   
  
"Yup," Spike confirmed, "If all goes well, we should have him turned in within the next two days."   
  
"Good." Jet said satisfied, "Anything me and Ed can do to help in the mean time?"   
  
"Not just yet," Spike said, "I've gotta go now, but I'll keep you updated."   
  
"Alright. Later."   
  
"Later."   
  
Spike picked up the phone and dialed James' room. He knew he wouldn't be there, so he just left a message.   
  
"Hey," he said, "I got her out, contact me when you can."   
  
  
Faye came out of the bathroom. "I'm exhausted."   
  
"I'm not surprised," Spike replied.   
  
"You might want to order a cot or something," Faye advised, "Because the bed is mine."   
  
"Yeah, yeah," he sighed.   
  
He picked up the phone and dialed for the hotel operator. "I'd like to order a cot to room 3B please."   
  
"Thank you," he said as he hung up.   
  
"So," Faye asked, "They sending a cot?"   
  
"There _is_ no hotel operator." he replied in a cold tone.   
  
"Hey, you picked this classy joint, not me," Faye said as she fell down onto the bed. "Please change into your regular clothes, I don't want anymore Sekart memorabilia around me right now."   
  
"Fine," Spike said as he went into the bathroom to change. When he came out again he found Faye already fast asleep. He sighed as he tucked her in, then decided to try for a cot at the front desk.   
  
"Hey, buddy," he said to the receptionist, "Do you have any cots available?"   
  
"It'll cost you extra," he replied absently.   
  
"How much 'extra'?" Spike asked, fearing the worst.   
  
" 'Bout 10 wulongs."   
  
"Fine," Spike said as he dug out another 10 wulongs for the man. "When will it be brought up?"   
  
"Whenever you decide to bring it up, I suspect," the man responded.   
  
Spike sighed, he'd have to bring it up himself. "Ok... so where is it?"   
  
"Back room," the man pointed, "You can't miss it, and just grab yourself some extra bedding too, on the house."   
  
"Oh, gee," Spike said sarcastically, "Your generosity is too much."   
  
After about 10 minutes of struggle with the impossible contraption, Spike managed to get the cot to his room. The set-up took another 20 minutes, as he couldn't find the lever to unfold it.   
  
Soon, Spike was able to fall asleep.   
  
Unfortunately, a bad dream had started to take over his sleep. _  
  
~~~   
  
He watched helplessly as Sekart approached the broken looking Faye, tears streaked her face and her eyes shown with fear.   
  
His body ached to beat the living crap out of Sekart, but he felt as though he had no body, he was forced to watch and do no more.   
  
"This will teach you, you little bitch!" Sekart snarled as he began to hit her brutally. Faye cried out in pain.   
  
~~~ _  
  
Upon Faye's cry, he woke up in a cold sweat, only to find that the cry wasn't from his dream.   
  
Faye thrashed in her sleep.   
  
Spike, who just couldn't let her suffer like that, brought it upon himself to wake her up. He noticed that it was 1 am, he had only been asleep 2 and a half hours.   
  
"Faye," he said, shaking her gently, "Faye, wake up, it's just a dream, wake up."   
  
Faye's eye's snapped wide open, the second she realized she was safe, she clutched Spike and buried her face in his chest, the tears that plagued her dream still streamed down her face. Spike was stunned at this action, it was so un-Faye like, but he reasoned that she must have had one hell of a nightmare, so he rapped his arms around her shoulders comfortingly. "It's ok, Faye, nobody's going to hurt you."   
  
  
~*~*~*~   
  
  
  
A/N: I know that there wasn't a whole lot of action in this chapter, but there should be more soon. I tried my hardest to keep them in-character... But I'm not sure how good a job I did... Why don't you guys let me know in a review? You know how much I like them!!!   
  
  
  
~DRC~   
  



	8. In the Middle of the Night

**A/N:** Oh my... It's been a while, hasn't it? And I had been so good about updating too. sigh I'm so sorry. I was just caught up in... well... multiple things, really. Anyway, the point is that I am sorry about the wait, but these things just can't be helped, besides, it's not like I can go back in time and update 3 weeks ago...   
  
But hey, I am updating now! And that's the important thing.   
  
PS. I love you reviewers!   
  


**Title: Fallen Petals of the Rose   
  
Chapter 8: In the Middle of the Night **

  
  
_Last time...  
  
Upon Faye's cry, he woke up in a cold sweat, only to find that the cry wasn't from his dream.   
  
Faye thrashed in her sleep.   
  
Spike, who just couldn't let her suffer like that, brought it upon himself to wake her up. He noticed that it was 1 am, he had only been asleep 2 and a half hours.   
  
"Faye," he said, shaking her gently, "Faye, wake up, it's just a dream, wake up."   
  
Faye's eye's snapped wide open, the second she realized she was safe, she clutched Spike and buried her face in his chest, the tears that plagued her dream still streamed down her face. Spike was stunned at this action, it was so un-Faye like, but he reasoned that she must have had one hell of a nightmare, so he rapped his arms around her shoulders comfortingly. "It's ok, Faye, nobody's going to hurt you."   
  
Now... _

__  
Sekart stormed the hotel in an angry rage. Faye was gone, the rose was about to lose all it's petals, and he cast off his only other possible victem, it wouldn't have the same affect for him to just kill a random whore looking for a one night stand, and there was just no replacing the thrill of literaly scaring your enamy to death.   
  
He scouled.   
  
He couldn't just not honor The Rose, that would surely lead him down a dark path, but there was no opption for him, even the whore idea was out because the casino didn't let in that sort of crowed and he refused to sink to the level of his idiot men and pick up girls from such places as the ice cream parlor, that just wasn't what Mr. King did, and since Mr. King was the one with the tab at the hotel, he was the one who altimately called all the shots. He had dug himself into a real hole.   
  
"Faye," he sneered, "You will be sorry you ever crossed my path, that man whore of yours too, he undoubtedly got you out of here, I swear it on my Rose that you will pay!"   
  
In the end, Sekart settled for a sacrificial killing of one of his men, since the infuriating men who had let Ms. Valentine were... _missing_... he would have to make do with someone else. Killing men was no where near as fun as killing women. Oh well, he could probably force a womanly scream out of whom ever he picked.   
  
"You there," he said seeing one of his men.   
  
"Yes, boss?" the man asked without a second thought.   
  
"I have a special task for you and I want you to come with me," he said calmly, leading the man away from the crowded casino.   
  
Faye suddenly came to, her eyes snapped open as she realized what was going on, as she realized whose arms she was in. Ashamed with herself, she pushed away and lowered her gaze.  
  
_"I'm sorry,"_ she whispered, wiping her tears away embarrassed. "I was just a little shaken up."   
  
"Are you sure you're ok?" Spike asked sceptically, "I've never seen you this 'shaken up' before."  
  
"Really," she said regaining her composure, "I'm perfectly fine, you don't need to fret over me."  
  
"This has to do with Sekart, I'm guessing," Spike said, crossing his arms defiently. "So why don't you just tell me what happened between you two."  
  
"Spike," she said, "My past is none of your business, and you had better not just expect me to break down and tell you everything."   
  
"You're right, it is none of my business," he said with a small smirk, "but after all I've done for you, the least you could do is spill the details, or even just give a brief over view, either way, I won't stop asking until you give up."   
  
"You're going to be asking for a long time then," Faye said, deciding to brush the tangles from her hair.   
  
"Eh, I'll wear you down eventually," he said confidently, "But seriously though, why make it such a big secret? Maybe you'll feel better getting it off your chest."   
  
"Hmph," she said in annoyance, "Don't even pretend that you only want to know for my well being, we both know perfectly well that you are just curious and nosy."   
  
"Yes," he said deciding not to fight it, "Can you blame me for being curious about why I was woken up at 1 am by your screams?"   
  
Faye's face paled, "Why can't you just mind your own damn business!?" she demanded. "I mean, I don't go around expecting you to give me all the details of your past, so why do it to me?"   
  
"Well, for starters," Spike replied with a yawn, "I don't scream out in my sleep, you did, or do, for all I know this is a common occurance and I just don't usually hear it."   
  
Faye glared at him with all her might, if she had the power of lazer eyes, Spikes head would be an unidentifyable pile of ashes.   
  
"Faye," he said in a more serious tone, "Tell me what happened, tell me why you were screaming, tell me why you were crying, I have never seen you like this before, and frankly, I don't like seeing you like this."   
  
"You know," Faye said solemly sitting on the end of the bed, staring at the ground, "I could have ended this all before it started. In the casino," she said with a grim smile, "he was standing all alone without any of his protection, I had my gun aimed at him and everything... but... I froze. I couldn't shoot him, he knew it too." She turned to Spike, "Do you have any idea what it's like to have a complete stranger have that sort of power over you? Do you? I could have killed him. This whole mess was my fault."   
  
"Don't beat yourself up over it," Spike said, "It's going to turn out ok, you'll see."   
  
"Spike, I lived with him for 8 months without a single clue as to what was going on, it's amazing that he didn't decide to kill me during that time, not counting the times when he came home drunk, but that's not the point! I had hoped that I was done with him, I could have even turned him in... but..."   
  
"This has something to do with the fact you couldn't shoot him either, right?" he guessed.   
  
"I just don't think I can bring myself to hurt him," Faye admitted. "Even after everything he's done to me, I just can't."   
  
"Faye," Spike asked firmly, "Were you in love with him?"   
  
------------------------------------   
  
A/N: A bit o' cliff hanger... What will Faye say to that question? Yes, she did give in easily, but it is around 1am, she's tired, sure to be easily manipulated, Spikes tired too... I'm sorry if this chapter was a disappointment after having to wait almost a month for it, but hey, the fic's almost over and it will be much better when you can just read it straight through... I think...   
  
Please review!   
  
DRC


	9. Of Lunkheads and Shrews

**A/N:** Hi everyone! Sorry it took me so long to get this out!   
  
**Disclaimer:** (Since it appears I left this out last chapter, please consider this a super duper double disclaimer!) I hold no claim over the plot or characters of _Cowboy Bebop._

* * *

**Title: Fallen Petals of the Rose  
  
Chapter 9: Of Lunkheads and Shrews**

* * *

**_Last time..._**  
  
"Spike, I lived with him for 8 months without a single clue as to what was going on, it's amazing that he didn't decide to kill me during that time, not counting the times when he came home drunk, but that's not the point! I had hoped that I was done with him, I could have even turned him in... but..."   
  
"This has something to do with the fact you couldn't shoot him either, right?" he guessed.   
  
"I just don't think I can bring myself to hurt him," Faye admitted. "Even after everything he's done to me, I just can't."   
  
"Faye," Spike asked firmly, "Were you in love with him?"   
  
_**Now...**__**  
**__**  
**_  
"How can you ask me that?" she asked him taken aback.  
  
"Answer the question, Faye," he demanded.  
  
Faye down casted her eyes, "I, I know I'm not in love with Sekart."   
  
"_But_?" Spike egged on.  
  
"Dave Truman... might _possibly_ be another story..." she said weakly, "But I know he's not real, so, I guess I'm just an idiot."  
  
"No," Spike sighed, "You aren't an idiot, Sekart's just insane, and damn good at being insane too."  
  
"Huh," she laughed half heartedly, "To think, that's _almost_ comforting."  
  
"This isn't exactly the time for an insult," he replied, leaning back to stare at the ceiling.   
  
"Spike," she said with a pitiful desperation, "What am I going to do? I mean, I just can't keep going like this, _**God!**_"  
  
"Well, you're not going to throw yourself in front of him to save his life, are you?" he asked.  
  
"I may not be able to _kill_ him myself, but there's no way I'm going to _die_ for him," she said defiantly.  
  
"That's good to know, because now we have nothing to worry about," Spike cracked a very small grin.  
  
"Why's that?" Faye asked with an impatient tone.  
  
"Because, I know now not to leave you in a vulnerable situation with him anymore," he explained, "When next you see him, you'll have me there, and James too. So there's no way anything will happen to you. And if worse comes to worse, and we have to kill him, I know you won't selflessly throw yourself in front of him to save his life, though, I shouldn't have been concerned with that in the first place, I mean, the thought of you being selfless is _laughable_."  
  
Faye raised an eyebrow, "What happened to this _'not being a time for insults_'?"  
  
"Well, apparently, now is," he shrugged indifferently.   
  
"Stupid Lunkhead," she muttered, folding her arms.  
  
"Shrew," he replied as innocently as if it were her name.  
  
Faye sighed, lying back," I'm dead tired."  
  
"Same here," Spike said. "Maybe we should try and go back to sleep, we will have a big day tomorrow, after all."  
  
"Ugh," she said rolling over and burying her face in the blanket, "Don't remind me."  
  
"Oh, right, sorry," Spike said as he got him self up and over to his cot. "Good night."  
  
"Yeah, good night," she said, fearing another nightmare, "Um... Spike?"  
  
"Hmm?" he mumbled, "What?"  
  
"Oh, never mind," she said.  
  
"Come on," he said impatiently, "Tell me. What is it?"  
  
"Nothing!" she lied.  
  
"Oh, come _on_," he said impatiently, "What is it? You worried about another nightmare or something?"  
  
"I _told_ you, it's _nothing_!" she said firmly.  
  
He sat up in an effort to make himself look more demanding, "Just tell- Whoa!"  
  
His cot, however, decided that his course of action was unacceptable and it collapsed.  
  
"Damn thing!" he said, prying himself from the metal carnage that was once his uncomfortable, smelly cot. He managed to salvage his blanket, but there was no way he, or anybody for that matter, would ever sleep on that cot again. "_Great_," he seethed with malice to the broken down bed, "Now I have to sleep on the _floor_!"  
  
Faye grunted with annoyance and she moved over on the bed, "Come here, there's room, you don't have to sleep on the floor, but don't think _this_'ll ever happen again."  
  
Spike, who was far more tired that he would have liked to admit, found his sleepy brain didn't mind much about the prospect of sleeping next to Faye. "Fine," he grunted, dragging his comforter behind him like a small child would with a security blanket. Faye smirked at the sight of him, he was obviously exhausted.  
  
He climbed in the bed and was lying face down, "Night." he said into the pillow.  
  
"Yeah, goodnight," Faye said, sliding down to a sleeping position, not as worried about nightmares now. Though she would have never admitted it, she felt a small sense of security around Spike, even though he was a pig headed lunkhead sometimes... Ok, _all_ the time.  
  
Morning came sooner than expected. Some lovely person set the alarm for 6:30 AM before leaving this wonderful hotel room.  
  
Faye found herself too comfortable to move and she struggled to stay asleep. Meanwhile Spike found that he too was comfortable, but, upon waking, all fore mentioned thoughts of comfort completely dissipated. Somehow, during the night, Faye became snuggly tucked under his arm with her head resting on his chest. She had a content looking face as though she was having a good dream. Looking at her peaceful state, he knew that if she awoke to find herself lying with him like that, it would very clearly be the end of Spike.   
  
Deciding it would be best to move himself away from her before poking her awake, he slowing and carefully began to lift her up and move her arm. In the middle of the process, however, the radio show, which was something incredibly boring about some planet's local economy, suddenly lost their clear connection, resulting in a high-pitched screeching noise that made Faye shoot straight up. It was then she turned to see that Spikes arm had been where she was laying.  
  
He laughed nervously, "G-good morning, Faye!"  
  
"What? You, and, _huh_?" she said sleepily, as though she were mentally trying to deliberate what had happened.  
  
"I um, sort of just woke up and we were like this," he explained.  
  
"Ok," she said, deciding to except his theory, but for the sake of fun, she said, "Or maybe you were trying to take advantage of a sleeping woman!"  
  
"Yes," Spike nodded, "That's exactly right, and I was using radio news to help woo you, but unfortunately, it cut out, waking you before I could inflict upon you my _manly desires_." He oozed sarcasm with his monotonic voice.  
  
"Well," Faye smirked, inwardly laughing at the stupid game they were playing, "It's good to know that the truth has finally come out, wow, could you just imagine it?" she chuckled, "It would be a coming together for the story books... I could just see the title now... "The Lunkhead and the Shrew."  
  
"Am I imagining things, or did you just call yourself a Shrew?" he asked with an arrogant smirk.  
  
"I was merely going by the lovely pet name you gave me, _Lunkhead_," she said smacking him lightly on the back of the head. She glanced at the clock and then back to Spike, "What time should we get going?"  
  
"James'll call and let us know," he said, getting up, "We should start to get ready now, though."  
  
"Right," Faye said, standing up, "I get dibs on the bathroom!" She called as she dashed for the door before Spike could react.   
  
"_Hey_!" he said in a futile argument. "What about _me_?"  
  
"Lady's first!" she called, "_Lunkhead_."  
  
"Lady? I didn't see any lady," he said, sulking. "Stupid _Shrew_."  
  
"I heard that!" Faye yelled.  
  
"That was the point!" Spike called back.  
  
"Lunkhead!"  
  
"Shrew!"  
  
The fight slowly came to a stop, but the incoherent mumblings of many a profanity could be heard throughout the hotel room. At around 8 AM, Spike received a call from James, Faye was still conveniently in the bathroom, much to Spikes disappointment.  
  
"Hey there, Spike," he said. "Every thing's going according to plans, I'll meet you and Ms. Valentine at the diner in about an hour and a half or so, I'm almost to the station, and don't worry about leaving Sekart alone... He seems to be losing it just a bit, I over heard him talking, and apparently he had been looking forward to a little get-together with the girl..." with hesitation he added," I think he was planning to _kill _her."  
  
"Well then," Spike said, disturbed that Faye could have been killed had they waited any longer, "Our timing was perfect."  
  
"Yeah," James replied. "So, how was spending the night with your lady friend?"  
  
"She was a little shaken up, but she's ok now," Spike said.  
  
"So, did you comfort her?" James asked in a suggestive manor.   
  
"Shut up!" Spike demanded.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, you're probably still a little upset by the whole ordeal, huh?" James said in a sincere, yet womanly tone. "If someone that close to me had gone through that I probably wouldn't be in a joking manor, but I didn't mean anything by it, I was just trying to lighten the mood."  
  
"Yeah well, I suppose I can forgive you," Spike said with a lighter approach. "You did help me get her out of there, after all."  
  
"Yes, I did, and now we have the more pressing matter of catching Sekart," James said, "I have a plan, but I'd rather talk to you both about it in person, and since I'll be there soon, I think we should hold all further conversation until then, alright?"  
  
"Alright," Spike said, "Bye."  
  
"Good bye." He replied followed by a click.  
  
5 minutes later, Faye emerged from the bathroom, which lead to Spike locking himself in not 3 seconds later. Faye sighed and wondered if he would notice the phone next to the toilette. Yes, this hotel was defiantly built for an upper crust sort of crowd.  
  
Only ten minutes past before Spike reappeared looking rather pleased with having captured the bathroom, even though Faye was completely done using it and that was the only reason he had been allowed in.   
  
"Spike!" She said with a smirk, "I really didn't know you _cared_!"  
  
"What are you talking about?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
"You know, this place has some _wonderful_ comforts," she said, seemingly veering way off topic, "Like phones in the bathroom, for instance. So tell me, do you talk about me often to that 'James' guy?"  
  
"Uh," he said intelligently. "He just seems to think that we are... romantically involved, even though I have told him time and time again that there was no way _I'd_ want to be with a _Shrew_ like you. No offense."  
  
"Right," she said cautiously, "And I guess you just got tired of correcting him?"  
  
"Yeah!" he said, happy that she had come up with such a wonderful excuse for him... Wait a minute! That wasn't an excuse! That was the truth! Or so he hoped. "So, how much of the conversation did you hear, exactly? Oh and by the way, I _will_ get you back for eaves dropping."  
  
"Yeah, yeah," she said, brushing off his threat. "I picked up when you were saying something about 'perfect timing', I think, _why_?"  
  
Spike sighed with relief, she hadn't heard about how close she was to death, he didn't want to scare her anymore that she already was... Because that would make her lose her concentration later when they would need her help to get Sekart! He thought. ' Yeah... exactly right...'   
  
"Oh, no reason..." he said, trying hard to get her to drop it.   
  
"Did you say something you didn't want me to hear?" she asked, approaching him with an evil pointing finger, "Because I think I've heard enough of your insults not to be surprised by anything you say about me!"  
  
"Honestly," Spike said backing away from the wrath of the poking finger, "I didn't say anything!"  
  
"So, _James_ said something you didn't want me to hear?" she asked, dropping her finger, trying to figure out what could have been said.  
  
"What makes you think there was something I didn't want you to hear?" he asked as innocently as he could muster.   
  
"Because I saw you tense up when you asked, and then relax again after I gave my answer, and being the observant little girl that I am, I put two and two together," she explained.   
  
"I see," he said nervously.   
  
"So, Spike," she said, "What exactly are you hiding from me?"  
  
"Nothing!" he said, shoving her aside.  
  
"You expect me to believe _that_?" she asked with a scoff.  
  
"Believe whatever you want," Spike spat, "But know that I am _not_ going to tell you!"  
  
"But you just said that there was nothing to tell!" She retaliated.   
  
"You don't seem to believe that no matter what I say, so I don't see any point in continually arguing about something that you are so totally one-sided about!"  
  
"Jeez!" she exclaimed, plopping down onto the unmade bed, "I don't see what the big deal is, I'm just curious."  
  
"Curiosity killed the Shrew," Spike muttered, mentally flinching after he realized what he had said.  
  
"I heard _that_!" Faye exclaimed as she malled him with a pillow, catching him off guarding and making him fall against the dresser, or maybe it wasn't so much that he was caught off guard than the fact that the pillow was as hard as a rock.   
  
"Hey!" Spike yelled, "What did I do to deserve that?!"  
  
"Stupid Lunkhead, I'm not a _Shrew_!" she yelled back.  
  
"Um, excuse me," a voice said from the doorway. "I do hope I'm not interrupting anything."  
  
"Eh?" Faye said as she caught a glance at the sight in the door way. Man, that was one ugly woman... 'At least... I think that's a woman,' she thought.  
  
"Oh Spike! Don't be shy! Introduce me to your friend!" the person demanded.  
  
"Um, Faye, this is James, or... Becky, as the case may be," he said with a nervous chuckle.  
  
"This?" Faye said with astonishment, "Is James? This person helped get me out of there?"  
  
"Yes," he nodded his head.   
  
Faye shrugged, "I've seen stranger things," she said as she went to shake his hand, only to pull back at the last second.  
  
"What's the matter, darling?" the man asked, "I don't _bite_!"  
  
Spike suddenly realized that James had said they would meet at the diner in an hour and a half, it had barley been 40 minutes since he got off the phone with him.  
  
"James," he said, subconsciously moving in front of Faye, "I thought we were going to meet at the _diner_."  
  
"I changed my mind and decided to meet you here instead! The door man gave me your room number!" he declared. "So let's get going!"  
  
It was then Spike knew for sure that man was not James. He cast Faye a knowing glance, he had an excellent idea of who he was... But he never before hoped so much that he was wrong.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, here you go! Chapter 9! Which gave me a twist that I never anticipated! I'm really happy because I finished all my finals and I'm officially done being a sophomore! Upper classmanship, here I come! This whole 'being out of school' thing will give me more time to write, which is good because you guys deserve more updates! (Besides that, I have to finish this before the 19th of June, just in case I'm not able to write in my summer time location.(Though, hopefully, I will be able to!) If not, don't expect to hear from me at all, whether in reviews or fics, until late August. Sad, I know, but what can you do but hope for the best?)   
  
Please don't hate me for the cliffy! I'll update soon! With no school and my best friend still in school (she's in another school district) I'll have nothing to do during the day except write!  
  
Thank you reader peoples for reading!  
  
_Please review!  
_

_**-DRC -**_


	10. The Clearly Insane Plan

AN: Well, I have ended the Hiatus. Grr. I'm really angry that it took me so long to get this out! I wanted to finish this before I started school, but that's in about 2 weeks, and while that would be really nice, I doubt it will happen. sigh

Disclaimer: I hold no claim over the characters or plot of Cowboy Bebop.

Title: Fallen Petals of the Rose

Chapter 10: The Clearly Insane Plan

_Last time..._

_"What's the matter, darling?" the man asked, "I don't bite!"_

_Spike suddenly realized that James had said they would meet at the diner in an hour and a half, it had barley been 40 minutes since he got off the phone with him._

_"James," he said, subconsciously moving in front of Faye, "I thought we were going to meet at the diner."_

_"I changed my mind and decided to meet you here instead! The door man gave me your room number!" he declared. "So let's get going!"_

_It was then Spike knew for sure that man was not James. He cast Faye a knowing glance; he had an excellent idea of who he was... He had never hoped he was more wrong in his life.  
Now..._

There was no doubt about it, that man was not James. And if he was in fact who Spike thought he was, they were screwed, very screwed indeed. Unless... 

'I'm clearly insane,' Spike thought as he settled on a plan; he was going to con the con artist. Again. "Alright, well, we should head to the diner anyway," he grabbed Faye's hand and gave it a squeeze while shooting her glance, telling her to go along with everything he said," poor Faye here hasn't eaten anything since yesterday morning and I could use something to eat myself, I think we've got time, what about you,_ James_."

The man looked a little flustered but said," Well, personally I think that we should just get going right now."

"Well, sure, we should," Spike said, "But we won't be of any use to you if we have no energy."

"Fine, alright," the man said, now adorning a smile, "Let's go to the diner!"

They got to the lobby when something suddenly hit Spike, he had something _very _pressing to tell the manager.

"But we've got to go!" the man said, "We can't waste the whole day taking care of petty things when that mad man's on the loose!"

"This is why you should go get a table at the diner, we'll catch up to you soon," Spike coaxed. "_You're_ the one who wants to leave so soon, and I _can't_ leave without taking care of this crap first! It's not my fault my cot tried to kill me last night!"

"Fine, but do hurry up." he sighed. "I'll go save the table, do you want me to order for you?"

"I'll take a coffee," Faye said, "And pancakes."

"Yeah, I'll have a coffee too, with eggs and toast," Spike said. "Thanks James, don't worry, we won't be long."

"Yes, well, I'll just have to find some way to entertain my lonesome self while you two are gone then," the man said turning to leave.

As soon as he was out of hearing range, Faye, who had basically stayed quiet the whole time, save for her breakfast order, turned to Spike, "Ok, what the_ Hell_ is this all about?"

"That's not James," Spike said solemnly, "I don't know what happened to the real one, if anything at all, I'm hoping nothing did at all and he will show up at the diner like planned."

"I got a really weird vibe from him earlier, that's why I didn't shake his hand," Faye admitted, "I also have a feeling that the only other person that could possibly be is Sekart."

"Same here," Spike agreed, "So we have to be very careful about this. I'm going to call James really quick."

"Alright," Faye said as Spike went to use a pay phone.

He came back a minute later, "He's ok, he should be here soon, but I think that you should keep as far away from him as possible, when we get into the diner, you go to the bathroom and stay there."

"Hey, I'm not a child, you can't order me around!" Faye argued.

"Faye, please I don't want you to get in the hurt in the middle of this and we have no time for argument!" Spike pleaded.

"Alright fine," Faye grunted in defeat, "I'll-"

"Excuse me," the man at the counter said, "Did I hear you mention something about a broken cot? Cuz that's gonna cost ya extra."

Spike grunted and pulling out a few wuulongs, dropping them on the counter before he pulled Faye in the direction of the diner. A part of him would rather face Sekart than get ripped off anymore by the crap-ass motel.

When the reached the diner, Spike let go of Faye's hand and whispered, "Bathroom," forcefully. Reluctantly, she complied and went through the door marked "Women".

Spike, on the other hand, made his way to the table; it was hard pretending to be cool and calm around this guy. It was even getting to be a little hard to believe he hadn't realized they knew who he was. If only the bounty didn't require this guy alive, then he could shoot him now and be done with it. No, they had to get him somewhere deserted, but that might prove difficult seeing as, once again, they were trying to con an experienced con man, the only reason they succeeded before was the fact that Sekart's men were uneducated idiots who could quite possibly be convinced of anything. Sekart should be another story, though, it made one wonder, and just how did he find out about James? How did he find out where they were?

Spike pushed these thoughts aside as he sat down in the booth opposite were the imposter James was sitting.

"Where's your lady friend?" he asked while trying to mask agitation. He was obviously good at creating people from scratch, but trying to be an already developed person must have proved difficult for him, he wasn't doing a great job.

"You know women; they always have to go to the bathroom," he shrugged, "She shouldn't be too long. Ah, thanks for ordering."

With that, Spike ate and drank the slowest he had ever in his entire life. He was pissing off a time bomb and he knew it was only a matter of time before he would blow.

"Well, Ms. Valentine is sure taking her sweet time in the bathroom," the man said, tapping his foot on the peeling linoleum floor.

"What can I say, she's obsessed with her appearance," Spike shrugged, with a forced chuckle.

"I don't know why you are staying so calm about this!" the man spat, "We don't have a lot of time on our hands and you are just laughing it off like we are only delaying our time to... to... I don't know!"

"Listen, I know what we have riding on this!" Spike whispered harshly, "And I'm not going to rush her into this, one would think _you_'d be more understanding."

"Humph," he crossed his arms, "Fine, we'll wait for her, but she better not eat as slow as you!"

"Don't worry about it," Spike said, leaning back and taking a sip of his coffee, silently hoping that the real James would show up soon.

Faye was at a loss of what to do in the bathroom, frankly, it was a little humiliating. The bathrooms in these places where anything but clean, they had the smell to prove it. Every once in a while someone would come in, and Faye would pretend to straighten up her make up, but before the person finished their... business, she'd lock herself in a stall until that person left. She was getting sick of this. Spike never mentioned when she could come out again. Why was she even listening to Spike? She shook her head, this was stupid! Why couldn't she just go out and see what was going on? How long could Spike possibly stall? When would the real James show up?

Were the walls not covered in some indescribable filth, she might have taken to banging her head on it in frustration. She really just longed for this whole ordeal to be over.

Spike was starting to lose hope, the man they decided was Sekart was quickly losing his patients, something had to be done and it had to be done fast. A few minutes later, out of the corner of his eye, he saw an extravagantly dressed woman standing in the door way, out of Sekart's view. The woman, who was rather manly in physique, could be no one but James. Spike took the fact that the man couldn't see James to his advantage. 

"I have to go to the bathroom," he said standing up. The man was anything but thrilled. "While you're over there, maybe you could get that damned girl! You had better not take so long!"

"Don't worry about it!" Spike said as he left the table. He walked past James and quickly whispered, "He's over there, sitting at the table, Faye's in the bathroom, keeping away from him, go get her, and we'll lead him away from the diner, when we get to a more secluded place, we'll make the capture."

"Right," James said as he made his way to the woman's restroom.

Spike went into the bathroom, but decided not to stick around long... Someone had fallen asleep in one of the stalls and was now snoring. It was a little unnerving that someone could sleep in a place like this. After a quick call to the Bebop for some back up, he quickly made his exit, just in time to see Faye timidly make her way back to the table. It looked like James had filled her in.

"Gee, I guess my breakfast is cold now," she chuckled, "That's ok, I'm not so hungry anymore. If you guys are ready, should we go?"

"I think we should, if you don't want to eat anymore," Spike said as he came up behind her. "What do you think, James?"

"Yes, yes, let's go already!" he said, quickly climbing out of the booth. They followed him out of the diner to the ship port, suddenly, the imposter turned around.

"You thought you could out smart me!" he cackled. "You thought you could one-up me! Well I have some news for you, I'm Sekart! I'm invincible!"

"It's funny," Spike said, jamming his hands into his pockets, "There's no actual record of a Drake Sekart ever existing before about 8 years ago, why don't you explain that?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you!" he declared, "You're all going to die soon anyway!"

James made his way from the shadows, "Sekart, we meet again," he said.

"James," he replied with venom," Spreading more of your lies to these people, I assume."

"The only liar here, _Drake_, is you," he said.

"Ha!" he laughed, "Well, what do you have to say about all this, _Miss Faye_? Are you happy to see me again?"

"Go to hell," she said. "You're fucking insane!"

"Ooh, brave now, are we? Now that you've got your little friends around to save your sorry ass," Sekart laughed.

"Shut up!" she yelled.

"What are you going to do about it, Valentine?" he asked with a sadistic grin.

She walked right up to face him before anybody could object, he laughed at her bravery, only succeeding in angering Faye more. Unable to take it anymore, she punched him in the face.

"Bitch!" he yelled as Spike pulled Faye back away from the psycho. "You'll pay for that!"

"I would tell you to get a life, but you don't seem to have a shortage on those," Faye yelled back, struggling in Spike's grasp.

"I'll fucking kill you!" he yelled, pulling out his concealed gun, "I'll kill you now, like I was going to do last night! Nobody takes my things! I'll kill you all!"

With a gun now aimed on them, Spike pulled Faye behind him and pulled out his own gun, they were at a stalemate, or would be, if James hadn't managed to sneak up on him. "Forget about me, darling?" he asked, putting his own gun to Sekart's back. "Drop it."

"Fuck this," he said, but dropping the gun never the less.

Faye started in his direction, Spike tried to stop her, "Spike, I know what I'm doing, so just lay off, alright? I have to do this."

"Touch her and it's all over, Sekart baby," James whispered.

Faye, now standing right in front of him, punched him in the stomach. "Never, never, mock me again. It has a way of creeping up on people and biting them in the ass."

She walked behind him and out of nowhere produced handy-dandy hand cuffs. Slapping them on him, it was now only a matter of time before the capture was 100% complete. "You probably are wishing that you had shot me when you had the chance." she scowled, "Well, I wish I'd shot you too, but now, lucky for you, you're too expensive to kill."

"Keep the gun on him, James, the Bebop should be here soon," Spike smirked. 'This was easier than I expected.'

"You can't win!" Sekart said, his eyes glowing with growing insanity. "My men! My men will get me out! They are lost without me and my guidance!"

"Oh shut it, you windbag," James said, "Your men are too stupid to do anything for themselves, which is why they were with you in the first place."

"You'll see!" Sekart shouted "You'll _all_ see!"

He broke into insane laughter, only to be stopped by the hilt of James's gun. The unconscious, hand cuffed man could no longer hurt, threat, or annoy them now.

The Bebop pulled into the port.

"Hope we're not too late for the show," Jet said as he exited the craft.

AN: Oh, I'm so happy I got this out! It's like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders! I really hope it was worth the wait I put you all through, honestly, I'm really trying to get better! It's almost done!

_**-DRC-**_


	11. Paying Back James

**AN:** Wow, this can't be! This honestly cannot be! The very last chapter? How on earth did that happen?  
  
**Disclaimer:** I hold no claim over the plot or characters of Cowboy Bebop.  
**  
Title:** Fallen Petals of the Rose  
**  
Chapter 11:** Paying Back James

_Last time...  
"You can't win!" Sekart said, his eyes glowing with growing insanity. "My men! My men will get me out! They are lost without me and my guidance!"  
  
"Oh shut it, you windbag," James said, "Your men are too stupid to do anything for themselves, which is why they were with you in the first place."  
  
"You'll see!" Sekart shouted "You'll all see!"  
  
He broke into insane laughter, only to be stopped by the hilt of James's gun. The unconscious, hand cuffed man could no longer hurt, threat, or annoy them now.  
  
The Bebop pulled into the port.  
  
"Hope we're not too late for the show," Jet said as he exited the craft.  
Now..._  
  
It's been three months and a couple genetic tests since Sekart's capture. Shockingly, it was discovered that Sekart was in fact Robby Shnider, one of his first alleged victims. The Bebop crew had gotten their reward for the capture of the mad man, and even had a small cameo on Big Shots, but when it came time to give James his share, he was no where to be found. And the Bebop crew was not about to let it all go to waste, they bought the biggest freezer they could fit on the Bebop and filled it with as much frozen food as they possibly could. They would have a little trouble going hungry now. Well, you know, until it all ran out.  
  
But, as previously stated, three months had passed. It was all over, everything was just starting to get back to normal, even the food showed signs of running low. The Bebop crew was growing restless, they hadn't had a decent bounty to go after since, well, Sekart. There had been plenty of small ones, though, they hardly paid enough to be worth the effort.  
  
Faye and Spike? Well, their first week back they avoided each other like the plague, but then someone decided to eat someone else's food and the fighting returned to the Bebop. Though, every once in a while they still had their moments, Jet saw it as only a matter of time before they would evolve into something more. But today was a lazy day, a day filled with boredom. Actually, it was a very familiar setting...  
  
Faye shifted on the couch trying to find a more comfortable position. She was attempting to read another trashy love novel, but for some reason the plot was giving her a head ache, she let out a girly little grunt and tossed it aside.  
  
"Having fun?" Spike asked, peering over his week old news paper. Faye had her legs dangling over the back of the couch, her head was hanging over the edge of the seat.  
  
"You look funny upside-down," she said.  
  
"So do you," he replied. He glanced at his watch and threw the news paper away with a reckless abandon, "Big Shot's is on." He said, turning it on. Faye even moved for a better view of the show, right next to Spike.  
  
"I wonder if there will be anything worth while," Faye sighed.  
  
Spike nodded, "Maybe."  
  
The show came on with all of it's glitzy wonder, it made one realize how quiet the Bebop was when it wasn't on... With Spike and Faye weren't fighting, that is.  
  
"Boy," the blond said," Do we have a bounty for you today! This one claims to be the, _ehem_, Real Sekart, the only difference is, he lures men to their deaths instead of women. A real nut-case if you ask me! But here's who ya gotta look out for!" A picture, and oddly familiar picture, took up the screen," No one knows who his real identity is, but don't let that stop you! There's a 10,000,000 wuulong reward for his capture!"  
  
Faye stared at the screen,"That looks just like..."  
  
"...James," Spike finished for her.  
  
They looked at each other, each letting out a helpless chuckle and a sigh.  
  
"No wonder he didn't come to claim his share," Spike said.  
  
"What in hell's name do we do now?" Faye asked.  
  
"I, for one, am thanking my lucky stars," Spike said, leaning back on the couch, "I was alone with that crack job on multiple occasions."  
  
"Yeah, but still," Faye sighed, "He did sorta help us out, remember?"  
  
"Yeah, so?" he asked.  
  
"Are we gonna go after him or not?" she asked with frustration.  
  
"What do you think?" he asked, sending her a sideway glance.  
  
"Grr!" she growled, "Will you just give me a straight answer already? Do you think we should go after him or not?"  
  
"Calm down, no need to get your nostrils flaring," he said, "What do you think we should do?"  
  
"You don't have a clue what to do either," Faye concluded.  
  
Spike shrugged, "The way I see it, we owe him, I mean, he hasn't even gotten his share of the reward from us."  
  
"True," Faye said, "But he is going around murdering people."  
  
"Yeah, but there are other bounties out there, and to be quite honest with you, I don't think it would be the best course of action to piss James off," Spike explained, "I mean, look what he got us to do to Sekart for him."  
  
"For him?" Faye repeated. "Wait, what?"  
  
"Oh yeah, that's right, I never told you," Spike realized, "Well, apparently, Sekart, or whoever he is, um, sort of wronged James, sort of hurt him. You know, when you get down to it, James really is a lot like a chick! After a one night stand, if the guy is "mean", they go all psycho."  
  
"I see what you're saying." Faye smacked him upside the head.  
  
"Ow!" he cried, "What was that for?"  
  
"Men are all alike," Faye muttered. "Complete and utter nimrods."  
  
"I'm no nimrod," He scowled, "Shrew!"  
  
"That's right!" Faye smiled. "You're a Lunkhead!" She got on her knees and gave him a noogie.  
  
He grabbed her wrists and pinned her on the couch. "Don't mess with the hair."  
  
"Yes, because it just looked _so good_ before," Faye smirked. "So I take it we are just going to leave it to some other idiots to get James."  
  
"Yup, sounds about right," Spike nodded. "Just think of it as the 10% we owe him."  
  
"Ok, great, now that we got that settled, would ya get offa me already?"  
  
Spike pondered this for a minute. "No, I don't think so."  
  
Faye's eyes narrowed, "Remember, I tried to ask nice."  
  
Spike let out a howl of pain as he fell to the floor with a thump. Faye smirked as she got up. She hadn't meant to kick him_ there_, but there was no use running from the past.  
  
"You fucking Shrew!" Spike yelled, "You're going to pay for that!" He tried to get up, but was over come with pain, "Just as soon as I can get up! You're gonna be sorry!"  
  
"Well, at least you learned your lesson," Faye taunted, "When a lady says no, she means no."  
  
"I don't see any lady's around her," Spike wheezed.  
  
Faye kicked him in the side.  
  
Jet sighed, he had been standing in the door way the whole time. As soon as Spike was able to get to his feet, he sent Faye an evil look. Faye squealed when he lunged at her.  
  
"Why don't you two just save all the drama and screw each other already!" he called to them. They stopped in their tracks and threw him an angry glare.  
  
Jet took his cue and got out of there as fast as his legs would carry him. Sadly, on the Bebop, there was nowhere to run and nowhere that an angry pair of bounty hunters wouldn't think to look.  
  
Ed and Ein looked on with mild amusement, they would all kill each other one day.  
_  
The End_  
  
Finally.  
  
**AN:** This came out a lot differently than I had thought, it's almost like I have more to write, but I have no clue what it is! If I do happen to think of it, maybe I will write a sequel, but I don't think that's going to happen. I'm sorry there wasn't more S/F action here, but I really couldn't find a place to add it without going incredibly OOC, I tried, really I did, but they wouldn't let me!!!

Oh, and an extra special thanks to all of my reviewers! I love you all! Thanks for sticking with me through the 2 month hiatus! I appreciate it!

* * *

  
**-DRC-**


End file.
